Beartooth take over Brixton Academy with support from Silverstein and Kingdom of Giants

There are some live bills that simply make sense on paper and Beartooth bringing Silverstein and Kingdom Of Giants to Brixton Academy on 3rd October 2026 was one of those occasions. Three bands who operate within the heavier side of alternative music but who each bring something distinctly different to the table, came together for a night that gradually built in intensity from the opening moments right through to the final notes of the headline set.

For a venue as iconic as Brixton Academy, the expectations are always going to be high. It’s a room that has hosted countless memorable performances over the years, and when the lights go down and the crowd begins to fill the floor, there’s an unmistakable feeling that you’re about to see something worth remembering. On this occasion, the responsibility of getting the evening started fell to Kingdom Of Giants.

Kingdom Of Giants had something of a difficult situation to deal with before even reaching the stage. Due to visa complications, their drummer was unable to make it into the UK, meaning the band had to perform with pre recorded drums. It’s the kind of problem that could potentially derail an opening performance, particularly when you’re playing to a room of this size and in front of an audience who have come primarily to see the two bands following you.

Instead, Kingdom Of Giants simply got on with it.

From the moment they launched into their set, there was very little sense that the circumstances were going to stop them from making an impact. The band threw themselves into the performance and the energy coming from the stage quickly started making its way into the crowd. There was movement almost immediately, with hands going into the air and people beginning to get involved rather than simply standing around waiting for Silverstein.

That’s an important thing for an opening band to achieve. You’re effectively asking an audience to give you their attention when they’ve potentially travelled to the venue for somebody else and Kingdom Of Giants did enough to earn that attention.

Their heavier material translated particularly well to the live setting, with the room responding to the bigger moments and the band making full use of the space available to them. Even without their drummer physically being there, the performance never felt like the band were simply going through the motions. There was a clear determination to make the most of the opportunity and that came across.

There was also something refreshing about the way Kingdom Of Giants handled the situation. Rather than allowing the missing member to become the story of their set, the focus remained firmly on the music. They delivered the performance they could deliver, gave the audience something to get behind and ultimately left the stage having made their mark.

It’s easy to underestimate just how difficult an opening slot can be but Kingdom Of Giants showed that even when things don’t go according to plan behind the scenes, the audience doesn’t necessarily need to know about it once the music starts. They turned what could have been a major setback into something that barely mattered once the set was underway.

With the room now properly warmed up, it was time for Silverstein.

There was a noticeable shift in the atmosphere as the Canadian post hardcore veterans took to the stage. While Kingdom Of Giants had done the job of getting people moving, Silverstein arrived with the confidence of a band who have been doing this long enough to know exactly how to control a room and they commanded it from the very beginning.

Silverstein’s catalogue is one of those that gives a live set plenty of options. There are aggressive moments, huge melodic sections, emotionally charged material and songs that have been part of people’s lives for years. Rather than concentrating exclusively on one period of their career, the set demonstrated just how much ground the band have covered throughout their time together.

That variety worked extremely well.

There was something for fans who have been following Silverstein for years, while their more recent material sat comfortably alongside the older songs. That’s not necessarily an easy balance to achieve. When a band has been around for as long as Silverstein, there can sometimes be a temptation to lean heavily on nostalgia but this performance felt more like a representation of where the band have been and where they are now.

The musicianship throughout was impressive but perhaps more importantly, there was a real sense of purpose behind the performance. Silverstein didn’t look like a band simply fulfilling the role of main support. They looked like a band who knew they belonged on that stage.

Shane Told was particularly effective at keeping the connection with the audience going throughout the set and the band as a whole maintained an energy that never allowed the performance to dip. There was a real back and forth between the stage and the floor. the further the set progressed, the more apparent it became that Silverstein were making a serious impression.

This was a performance that served as a reminder of why bands such as Silverstein can remain relevant for so long. Longevity only means something if you can continue to deliver and there was nothing about this performance that suggested Silverstein were resting on their history.

If anything, they seemed determined to prove that they were every bit as deserving of their position on this bill as the band headlining it.

By the time Silverstein finished, the atmosphere inside Brixton Academy had changed again. Kingdom Of Giants had got the room moving, Silverstein had taken that energy and pushed it further and now there was only one band left.

Beartooth.

The anticipation before their arrival was huge but what followed made it immediately clear why Beartooth were occupying the headline position.

There was no gradual build into the performance. From the moment the band appeared, they took control of the room.

This is a band who have reached the point in their career where a venue such as Brixton Academy doesn’t feel like an ambitious step anymore. It feels like where they belong. The scale of the production, the size of the crowd and most importantly, the response from that crowd all felt completely appropriate for a band who have established themselves as one of the bigger names in modern heavy music.

Beartooth’s set also benefited enormously from the depth of their catalogue. Rather than making the show feel like a promotional exercise for their newest material, the performance travelled through different stages of the band’s career. Early songs sat alongside newer material, giving the audience plenty of opportunities to hear songs they had grown up with while also showing how the band have evolved.

And the audience knew every word.

That was one of the most striking aspects of the entire performance.

There were moments where the crowd almost became another member of the band, particularly during the bigger choruses. Thousands of voices coming together inside Brixton Academy gave some of these songs an entirely different scale to what you hear on record. The recordings may be huge but hearing an entire room sing them back adds another dimension that simply cannot be replicated through headphones.

For Caleb Shomo, there were clearly moments where the reaction from the audience genuinely hit home.

There was visible emotion and genuine surprise at times as the crowd responded to songs with an intensity that clearly meant something to him. When you’ve performed the same songs countless times, it would be easy for those moments to become routine but Caleb’s reactions suggested otherwise. There was a real appreciation for the fact that people were still connecting so strongly with the music.

Those moments helped make the performance feel personal despite the sheer size of the venue.

That’s arguably one of Beartooth’s biggest strengths. Their music deals with some pretty heavy subject matter but live, those songs become communal experiences. People aren’t simply listening to Caleb sing about his experiences, they’re screaming the words back at him and there’s something incredibly powerful about that exchange.

Musically, the performance was just as strong.

Beartooth are an extremely tight live band, and the sheer weight of the performance was impressive. The guitars sounded huge, the rhythm section provided the necessary punch and Caleb’s vocals carried the aggression and emotion required to make the songs work in this environment.

Perhaps the biggest compliment you can give the band is that there were moments where it genuinely felt like listening to the recordings.

That isn’t to say the performance lacked personality or spontaneity. Quite the opposite. The band managed to reproduce the impact of the songs while still giving the show its own energy. The difference was that the songs were now being played in front of thousands of people who knew exactly what they meant to them.

The crowd played an enormous part in that.

From the early catalogue through to the newer material, there was a constant feeling that people were invested in the entire journey of Beartooth. Older songs triggered huge reactions, newer material was met with the same enthusiasm and there was very little opportunity for the energy inside the venue to drop.

The bigger moments felt enormous.

The heavier sections hit with the force you’d expect from a Beartooth headline show, while the more melodic and emotional moments gave the audience a chance to catch their breath before the next explosion of energy. That contrast helped keep the set engaging throughout rather than simply becoming one long wall of sound.

that is ultimately what separates a good headline performance from a great one. It’s not simply about playing the biggest songs as loudly as possible. It’s about understanding how to take an audience through an entire evening.

Beartooth clearly understood that.

The progression of the night as a whole also deserves credit. Kingdom Of Giants were given the difficult task of opening and managed to turn an unfortunate logistical problem into a performance that got the audience moving. Silverstein then stepped up and delivered a confident, experienced main support performance that demonstrated exactly why they were chosen for the tour.

Then Beartooth took everything that had come before and raised the ceiling considerably.

There was a real sense that the three bands had each played their role perfectly. Kingdom Of Giants established the atmosphere, Silverstein strengthened it and Beartooth turned it into a full scale headline experience.

For Silverstein, this was another reminder that their catalogue and live presence remain as strong as ever. They have the experience to command a venue of this size and their performance showed that they weren’t there simply to warm the crowd up.

For Kingdom Of Giants, the circumstances surrounding their set could easily have become an excuse for a quieter performance but they refused to let that happen. They made the audience move, they created a reaction and they proved that even under difficult circumstances, a strong live performance can still shine through.

And for Beartooth, the night was another example of exactly why they have reached headline status.

They didn’t simply play Brixton Academy.

They owned it.

There was confidence in the performance, genuine emotion from Caleb, an audience who seemed to know every word and a band who sounded every bit as powerful live as they do on record. More importantly, there was a genuine connection between the people on stage and the people standing in front of it.

As the final moments of the show arrived, it felt like the kind of night that demonstrates just how powerful heavy music can be in a live environment. Three bands, three different approaches and one packed Brixton Academy gradually building towards a headline performance that delivered on the expectations surrounding it.

3rd October 2026 was ultimately a night where every band had something to prove and every band delivered in their own way. Kingdom Of Giants overcame circumstances that could easily have worked against them, Silverstein showed exactly why they remain such an important name in post hardcore and Beartooth demonstrated why they are now firmly established as a headline act capable of commanding a venue of this size.

For anyone inside Brixton Academy that night, it was difficult to ask for much more from a heavy music bill.