Billy Talent gig review – O2 Academy Islington London.

June 18, 2022 rocknews

Our venue tonight is the O2 Academy Islington in London, this is the first time we have been here, it’s a good size venue with a balcony. We are here to see one of my favourite bands Canada’s own Billy Talent. I first discovered this band many years ago when they played Download, I do what I always do and research any bands that are new to me, Billy Talent immediately stood out so we had to make sure we caught their set. The rest as they say is history.

Now I have to say there’s only one thing better than a Billy Talent album and that’s Billy Talent live and tonight was no exception. They started the set with the now classic Devil in a Midnight Mass and the crowd just loves it, straight away Ben and Ian are surplus to requirements. The crowd sing every word of every song, I’ve just come back from this year’s download, where I watched so many amazing bands, but not one of them got the response that this band got tonight.

They kicked out song after song and the audience did the same. I think the reason for this is Billy Talent songs are singalong songs much like AC/DC, and on top of that, they have never put out a bad song. Ben told us how he was drug-free and hadn’t had a drink for over a week, to which someone in the audience shouted “You F**king liar” this became Bens’s catchphrase for the night, using his best London accent.

The balcony at this venue was unusually high and Ben remarked that it was like the Thunderdome, then he also realised that the reference would be lost on a good section of the audience. Ben also shared the fact that he had become a dad during the pandemic.

Rather than do the fake encore they just played the last two songs, Fallen leaves and Red flag, what a way to end a great night. I only have one critique of Billy Talent and that is that they don’t play in the UK enough, Ben did say they want to put this right and will try and come back early next year if they do not miss it.