LIVE REVIEW + PHOTOS: THREE DAYS GRACE AT THE O2 ACADEMY BRIXTON, LONDON 13/12/25 (+ BADFLOWER)
The walk toward the O2 Academy Brixton on Saturday, December 13, 2025, felt like joining a riot. Honestly, walking up to the venue, I couldn't wrap my head around the fact that Three Days Grace was playing here. This is a band that usually owns massive arena stages and festivals like Download & Rock am Ring. Seeing them in a room this intimate felt like a glitch in the matrix - it was unexpected, way too small for their stature, and absolutely legendary because of it. Moreover, we witnessed a historic reunion; this November/December 2025 tour marks Adam Gontier’s first major appearance in the UK and Europe with the band in over a decade.
Opening the night was Badflower, and let’s get one thing straight: Badflower isn't just a "bad" flower; they are a completely addictive one, a dark, thorns-and-all bloom that you can’t help but keep coming back to. Led by the mercurial Josh Katz (vocals and guitar), Joey Marrow (lead guitar), Alex Espiritu (bass), and Anthony Sonetti (drums), they don't just play songs; they bleed them. Josh is a frontman who makes you feel every ounce of his anxiety and mania.
The second they kicked into their first songs, ’Drop Dead’ and ‘Number 1’, you could tell they weren't an opening act, but an established band with an incredible history, and the crowd reaction was telling of that. Since their 2014 formation, they’ve been grinding, eventually moving from the chaos of LA to a farm in Nashville where Katz built a studio in a barn to rescue animals and record hits. That "all-in" mentality has paid off. Their 2019 debut OK, I’M SICK sent shockwaves through the industry, with LoudWire hailing it among the "50 Best Rock Albums of 2019". They aren't just critical darlings, though - they are also chart killers. Singles like ‘The Jester’, ‘Heroin’, and ‘Ghost’ all vaulted to No. 1 at Rock Radio, with ‘Ghost’ picking up a GOLD certification from the RIAA and winning Rock Song of the Year at the iHeartRadio Awards. When you realise they’ve also shared stages with bands like My Chemical Romance, Cage the Elephant, Shinedown, and Of Mice & Men, their confidence makes total sense.
Katz has this confession style that seeps into distortion. He even stopped to check in with us: "Do you know who we are?" he asked the floor, then pointed to the balcony, "Don't just cheer because I've addressed you, be honest!" This was a moment of genuine fun and blunt human connection that made the set feel even more relatable.
When Katz performed ‘Move Me’ solo before the rest of the band crashed in for the final breakdown, I had goosebumps live – the contrast of the stripped back instrumentation and the end of the track was super effective live. But the peak chaos was ‘Stalker’ when he abandoned the stage and dove into the crowd, surfing over a sea of hands. He got back to the stage so fast he joked, "I’ve never crowd-surfed and got back in so quickly. A lot of strong mommies and daddies in the front row." This was followed by a fantastic drum and bass guitar solo section by Anthony & Alex, followed by an extensive and powerful drum solo showcase as well.
As the tour reached its final curtain, Josh Katz took a moment to acknowledge the headliners, telling the crowd it had been a total blast touring with them before adding: "I know you paid, but it’s almost like you underpaid because Three Days Grace is such an amazing band."
They closed with ‘30’, a cynical look at the anxiety of getting older and the pressure of "making it", which Josh delivered with a frantic, unhinged energy that felt incredibly personal. Those iconic "Ah! Ah! Ah!" vocal hooks sounded even more unique, desperate, and powerful live than on the record.
Badflower didn’t just set the stage; they made the whole room bloom into a dark, beautiful madness before the riot commenced.
Chants for "Three Days Grace" were so loud before they even made it to the stage.
It’s wild to think this band started in a tiny 1500-person town in Ontario. They joked on stage about how you only had three options there: sports, music, or drugs. The guitarists mimicked each one, but I think we’re all glad they chose music. "They’ve gone from that small town to building a legacy defined by a record-breaking string of No. 1 singles on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Radio."
This November/December 2025 European and UK tour marks Adam Gontier’s first major outing in these regions with the band in over a decade. The current 5-piece "2X" lineup - Adam Gontier (vocals), Matt Walst (vocals), Barry Stock (lead guitar), Brad Walst (bass), and Neil Sanderson (drums/backing vocals/keys) is now ready to takeover, introducing us to the new era of Three Days Grace.
The staging was minimal - just two screens set with visuals that matched the songs - because they didn't need the extra fluff. They are the spectacle. They opened with ‘Dominate’, a track off their new 2025 record ALIENATION, showing their intentions to own the stage before moving to one of their most popular songs, ‘Animal I Have Become’, which turned the entire room into a massive, sweaty singalong. This became the mantra for the whole set. They followed it up with ‘So Called Life’ from their EXPLOSIONS (2022) era, and the command to "get the fuck up" was met with zero hesitation by the crowd.
There was this hilarious moment where they mentioned the band’s album history, and they briefly mentioned Adam Gontier leaving the band, which got some boos. They just laughed: "I thought I'd be able to just slide that and move on," before genuinely thanking the band for staying together since high school. It felt so authentic, like they were hanging out with us in a pub, despite being global rock icons who toured the world. After this moment, the band performed their first single, ‘Mayday’, from their latest record, when Adam returned to the band alongside Matt Walst and marked their new direction to a dual-lead-vocalist band. The audience unsurprisingly did their homework when it comes to the new album. After ‘Kill Me Fast’, they looked out impressed at the sea of faces and just asked, "Did you like it?" The roar back was all the answer they needed.
Later, of course, also came the mid-set tease. They launched into ‘I Hate Everything About You’. As their oldest and most iconic track, it triggered one of the loudest sing-alongs of the entire night. This was also the moment I realised the setlist was perfectly curated in such a way to hit us with the most popular tracks near the start, (‘Animal I Have Become’), middle, (‘I Hate Everything About You’), and end (‘Riot’) - a clever tactic for keeping the audience engaged through the set with familiar hits.
During ‘Time Of Dying’, I glanced over at the production desk next to me, and even the crew were headbanging. When the people working the gig are partying, you know you’re witnessing something special.
An emotional part of the set was the track ‘Apologies’ which was introduced as “a song about knowing you are in need help but undeserving of it”. To tie it all together, after this song, we also got a stripped-back solo cover of Radiohead’s ‘Creep’, which was a perfect storytelling follow-up of the previous track.
They even brought out Cale Gontier (cousin of Adam) from Saint Asonia for an acoustic version of their new track ‘Don't Wanna Go Home Tonight’, where the band reminisced about the much more care-free and simpler life in Canada.
As we neared the end, the energy skyrocketed. "Who's partying here? Raise your drinks!" they yelled. "Come on, you have nothing to do tomorrow! We want to come back here every year because you guys know how to live the..." and they crashed straight into ‘The Good Life’, which saw a massive moshpit spread across the floor.
During ‘Painkiller’, they told us: "We've been fortunate enough to use music as a way to go through the tough times. If you know this song or it means anything to you, sing it!", and so we did.
‘Never Too Late’ gave me actual shivers live - hearing thousands of people scream a chorus about finding the strength to survive amidst despair is powerful.
They ended the night, of course, with a triumphant multi-platinum behemoth ‘Riot’ from their legendary ONE-X (2006) classic, which was a perfect closer to the show with every single person shouting the chorus as if their lives depended on it. It was loud, it was aggressive, and it was perfect.
Choosing O2’s Brixton Academy was a bold, unexpected move for a band that could easily sell out triple this capacity, but it reminded us that at their core, they are still that hungry band from Ontario. If you weren't there for this final night of the EU/UK tour, you missed a piece of intimate, intense, and absolutely unforgettable 3DS history.
If you missed this EU/UK Tour, Three Days Grace has also announced their ALIENATION US Tour, starting February 21st with special guests I Prevail & The Funeral Portrait, and in Canada, starting April 19th with special guests Finger Eleven & Royal Tusk.
Words by Vlad-Paul Ghilaș (Platform ‘96)
Photos by Florelle Servageon