LIVE REVIEW + PHOTOS: PIERCE THE VEIL AT THE OVO ARENA WEMBLEY, LONDON 23/09/25
“Holy shit are we at Wembley?!” Even for San Diego's Pierce the Veil, the iconic London arena holds weight. With many of the dates on the US leg of the world tour selling out, Europe looks set to be just as crazy.
Crawlers were the first of three supports, the die-hards at the barrier, screaming along to every word from the top of ‘Feminist Radical Hypocritical Delusional’. The trio of rockers thrilled to find themselves in arenas for the first time and to prove themselves worthy they smash through a ruckus set.
The cheeky chaps in Hot Mulligan combined pop-punk with metal screams and a dose of good old friendly ribbing about everything from the UK's food to drug habits.
“Why is weed illegal here?” vocalist Nathan Sanville moaned before introducing ‘Island in the Sun’ informing us it was “The best place to smoke weed”.
Hot Mulligan took the vast Wembley stage in their stride, with a sound certainly big enough to fill the room.
Cavetown switched up the vibe with a far more chilled out set of bedroom indie songs.
“I hope you have a good time and we don't ruin your night - that's the main goal.” Robin Skinner mused. He needn't have worried. The home crowd embraced him with open arms.
We got a taste of the excitement for Pierce the Veil's set on ‘a kind thing to do’ when Vic Fuentes appears on stage to collab. The arena erupting into truly ear-splitting screams.
Pierce the Veil aren't here to sell you anything. They didn't come to push an album or promote a new single. They are here because they wanna hear you scream and at Wembley Arena that is exactly what 12,000 excitable fans did.
The ‘I Can't Hear You’ tour is a roundup of the very best of Pierce the Veil without the focus staying for too long on any album or era. Just last year the band were down the road at Ally Pally, crashing through a set heavy on the Jaws of Life tracks. Tonight is completely different. Journeying through the almost 20 years of the band's catalogue we get everything from the early days, to the modern incarnation to a heartwarming cover. Variety is after all, the spice of life.
The first three songs seemingly set an impossible level of energy to keep up through the entire show, ‘Death of an Executioner’, ‘Bulls in the Bronx' and ‘Pass the Nirvana' cause absolute chaos, the latter containing the lyric that lent itself to the tour's name, with charismatic frontman Vic Fuentes screaming over and over- “I CANT HEAR YOU.”
A cover of Pixies ‘Where Is My Mind?’ melts perfectly into ‘Floral and Fading’ from 2016 album Misadventures and the era of the massive album; Collide With The Sky is ushered in with Fuentes shining a spotlight around the crowd during ‘May These Noises Startle You In Your Sleep.’ Vocals distorted with a megaphone, building into the carnage of ‘Hell Above’, it's real -hairs on the back of your neck standing up- kinda stuff.
Jaws of Life is of course represented too. ‘Emergency Contact’, a sweet and joyful singalong moment. Ending with the iconic ‘King for a Day’, Pierce the Veil keep the energy from start to finish and leave London in a state of euphoria.
Words by Imogen Bird
Photos by Florelle Servageon
Full setlist below:
Death of an Executioner
Bulls in the Bronx
Pass the Nirvana
I'm Low on Gas and You Need a Jacket
I'd Rather Die Than Be Famous
Floral & Fading
Yeah Boy and Doll Face
She Makes Dirty Words Sound Pretty
Wonderless
May These Noises Startle You in Your Sleep Tonight
Hell Above
So Far So Fake
Emergency Contact
Circles
Disasterology
Hold On Till May
King for a Day