Live Review: Alexisonfire – London

Live Review: Alexisonfire – OVO Wembley Arena, London

24th June 2026
Support: Billy Talent, Touche Amore
Words & Photos: Tom Atkin

With the UK in the midst of an incredibly uncomfortable heat wave, descending on our capital feels like a bit of a mistake. 37 degrees outside and god knows what it was on the tube, but alas the crowds are very much heading towards Wembley area tonight; whilst Harry Styles sells out the stadium, the arena gets invaded by a Canadian double team.

Opening up for the co-headliners is American post hardcore legends, Touche Amore. Most concerts have a very much preset schedule of energy levels that grow as the night goes on, however Jeremy Bolm and gang don’t seem to have that memo. ‘New Halloween’ hits as the second song of their set and means we are dragged into peak performance mode already. There is no let up through ‘Come Heroine’, ‘Displacement’ and ‘Hal Ashby’ as the energy was kept at a solid high.

The ten song set flew by, even with the odd bit of conversation between songs, including the crowd being thanked for letting them take the stage for thirty minutes whilst they shouted at them.
To some it probably does just sound like shouting, but you can certainly feel the emotion put in the songs, the shouting just heightens the passion coming through Jeremy’s voice. 

‘Flowers and You’ is the perfect song for Touche Amore to end on, a song that certainly carries the same energy as the rest of their songs, however also brings sections that slow down the pace a bit. 

It is ridiculous to know that ‘II’ from Billy Talent is twenty years old this year, an album and band that helped shape an entire generation. The moment they took the stage the whole, sold out, crowd erupted with the anticipation of the whole album being played in full.

‘Devil in a Midnight Mass’ has one of the most recogniseable riffs of that generation, and hearing Ian D’Sa rip it out as perfectly as it was recorded is something else. That fuzz effect is just spot on, and hearing ten-thousand people chant “Whisper, Whisper, don’t make a sound” is something else entirely. 

Following that up with ‘Red Flag’ keeps the energy up that Touche Amore started earlier in the evening, it certainly does not feel like it being the hottest day of the year has any effect on the show. 

Continuing through ‘This Suffering’, ‘Fallen Leaves’ and ‘Surrender’ absolutely cement the consistency of Billy Talent, twenty years on and every song is performed flawlessly. The latter, alongside ‘Perfect World’ still carry just as much emotional weight as they did all those years ago.

There were a few gems thrown in for good measure, the unforgettable melodic bass intro for ‘Worker Bees’ causing another cheer in the crowd as they joined in the chanting at the start of the song.

With it being a co-headline Billy Talent also graced us with an encore. ‘Rusted From the Rain’, ‘Devil On My Shoulder’ and the explosive ‘Viking Death March’ seal the deal on what has been an incredibly high bar for Alexisonfire to top.

And now the moment that everyone has been waiting for, Alexisonfire. The band casually strolled on to the stage in a manner which would make you think it was going to be less energetic than the last two bands of the evening.

‘Drunks, Lovers, Sinners and Saints’ soon changed that opinion, the whole band instantly exploding with an energy that translates straight to the crowd, I dread to think just how warm it was in the centre of the floor. Chris Steele on bass just doesn’t stop either, he is like Angus Young on speed. 

With this also a twenty year celebration, this time for ‘Crisis’, with the opus also played in full. This meant there were some treats in the set, both ‘We Are The End’ and ‘Keep It On Wax’ have not been played since 2012.

The stage presence of everyone in the band is incredible, they all seem to have different styles of performing yet all match perfectly. With George Petit’s voice sounded just as good as it always has done.

With tracks like ‘This Could Be Anywhere in the World’, ‘Boiled Frogs’ and ‘We Are The Sound’ all sparking sing a longs from the attendees that could clearly be heard outside of the arena. Then on the flip side of that, ‘Rough Hands’ and ‘Crisis’ reminded every one that brutally intense Alexisonfire that I imagine most people here fell in love with has not diminished one ounce. The combination of George Pettit’s visceral vocals, alongside the cleans that effortlessly came from Dallas Green re-imagined the magic of twenty years ago when this album first hit the shelves.

Alexisonfire hit us all with an encore, one of which ‘Throne’ has never been played live before. A special treat for these fans that have stuck by the band for so long now. Ending the sweatfest of the night was ‘Happiness by the Kilowatt’”’, a title that feels incredibly appropriate for the evening.

Twenty years on and both these bands can still put on a show for the ages, the match up of the pair of them was nothing short of perfect. A night of high heat, high energy and incredible performances. They could have easily cancelled due to the temperatures, but instead they showed up and gave everything they could. 

Photo credits: Tom Atkin