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Twenty years. Two decades. Ohio metalcore heroes The Devil Wears Prada have gone from strength to strength year after year, release after release and now back across the pond to their second home of the UK, the band returned to Yorkshire to celebrate the release of their ninth studio album ‘Flowers’ on a cold Wednesday night in Leeds.
Pittsburgh metalcore quintet 156/Silence returned to the UK for the second time this year. Having graced the very same venue back in March supporting Fit For A King, the room was set to be filmed with a few of the same faces. With little time to play about with, it was straight down to business. Opening with ‘Control Burns’, the bands lack of stage movement wasn’t deemed a negative, instead it gave them more power through their sound as they churned out so almighty riffs and screams for the next thirty minutes. Fans of the band in attendance were extremely pleased as they kept in tracks from their 2024 release ‘People Watching’, with a strong trio to end their set which included ‘Product Placement’, ‘Better Written Villain’ and ‘Character Development’, with the latter getting the biggest reception of them all with a large mosh pit forming in the centre of the room to see the band off in style.
French prog-metal band Novelists made their return back across the channel for another action packed set that they always tend to bring. From club shows to festivals to now the Project House, the Parisians were the perfect addition as the final warm up ahead of the headliner. Vocalist Camille Contreras entered the stage first with a calming intro to the set, ‘All For Nothing’ served as their opener. Each member then gradually took their positions, ready to unleash that in-your-face sound that Novelists are known for. The energy in the room soon picked up as the set progressed, with Contreras encouraging more movement as the tracks continued. The transition from cleans and screams had various different people in the crowd joining in for big hitters ‘Say My Name’ and ‘Coda’ before ending their main support slot with ‘Turn It Up’ for one big hurrah.
Less than 18 months since their last visit to Leeds, The Devil Wears Prada were back in Yorkshire with a new album under their belt and with twenty years of experience behind them, this was surely going to be a walk in the park for them. The band did promise fans that this would be their longest set and biggest production to date, so there was a lot to be excited for with this show. As each members entered the stage, the cheers gradually increased right up until Jeremy and Mike appeared last and now with the band all present, the set began with the calming ‘That Same Place’ immediately leading into ‘Where The Flowers Never Grow’. The new approach that TDWP have taken with the ‘Flowers’ record shows that it doesn’t all have to be screaming vocals and powerful breakdowns throughout, but in parts, accompanied by Jeremy’s calming singing alongside Hranica taking more of a backing vocals stance, Mike soon came into the fold in typical fashion for the final moment of the song with a true TDWP big finale.
Just one song in and the Leeds crowd were more electric than the band’s previous visit back in 2025, so the ‘Flowers’ tracks continued with ‘So Low’ to keep up the energy before fan favourite and TDWP classic ‘Danger: Wildman’ grabbed the attention of their OG fans that were spread across the room. Hranica’s stage presence hasn’t mellowed one bit, as he still runs around the platform and screams with sheer force, with keyboard player Jonathan Gering also joining in on the antics in-between parts too. Tracks from ‘Color Decay’ still played a huge part in the set, with four songs following each other, ‘Salt’ and ‘Broken’ served as the highlights from the band’s eighth release before returning to dipping into some much older material, including the ‘Zombie EP’ track ‘Outnumbered’ and ‘Dogs Can Grow Beards All Over’ as the only song from TDWP’s debut album, now twenty years old.
Returning to ‘Flowers’ material, ‘Ritual’ and ‘So Low’ picked up the energy once again as the night headed into its final stages. Rounding off with ‘Sacrifice’, the band made their way off stage before a quick return saw the Ohio bunch conclude the night with two more songs. ‘Play the Old Shit’, a track that serves as a response to some of their fanbases demands have now made it into a song title, and with wishes granted based off of that new song, TDWP’s grand finale came in the form of ‘Hey John, What’s Your Name Again?’ to bow out of their return to Leeds with a true career spanning performance and a celebration of the last twenty years, cementing themselves as one of the most iconic and legendary names within the genre.
