Before I go any further, I want to talk about Milk Teeth and Our Last Night, who were opening for my favourite Australians.








I had listened to Milk Teeth because a girl I know used to do photography for them, and I'd instantly fallen for their grungy sound. I had missed them when they had played Paris with Title Fight in May 2015, and I was very happy when I found out they would be supporting Tonight Alive. They have recently released an album entitled Vile Child, and I love it oh so much. Their live performance at the Forum didn't disappoint me (or anyone else, really) and was worth all the waiting - their energy is infectious, and singer Becky Blomfield has a whole lot of charisma on top of a fantastic voice. I may now play Vile Child on repeat and wait for their next tour. April feels so far away.

I had seen the Americans of Our Last Night once before their Forum set, and it had happened in May 2015 as they had played the Petit Bain, in Paris, accompanied by the likes of Palisades and Our Theory. Their performance had been energetic and had set the packed boat on fire - and bar the fact that the Kentish Town Forum is firmly set on the ground, Our Last Night's performance left me with the same impression. The band have a very generous way of playing, if that makes sense, they have a whole lot of charisma and they are very good at what they do. Singer Trevor Wentworth's vocal abilities are incredible, especially when you consider how young he is, and their overall performance was of the "very good" variety. Closing track Sunrise got the audience singing, including yours truly, who had no idea she even knew the words. Oh, cider, my dear old friend.

(To this, I want to add that a set like they have produced should hopefully be enough to silence the naysayers. Our Last Night may be best known for their high quality covers of pop songs, but they are so much more than that, and far away from just being a cover band. Get it right)

And this is it.

Tonight Alive.

There are so, so many things I would like this band to know and yet, there are no existing words to express my love for them. Their music and message have a positive influence on me on a daily basis and has had for four years now, and I deeply admire all the members of the band. To the risk of sounding awfully cheesy (when don't I, though), Tonight Alive make me an incredibly happy human.

In 2013, they released the wonderful The Other Side, and I can only describe it as the record I needed right at the moment I needed it. Everything about it is empowering, and I can say, without a doubt, that it has influenced me a lot and changed my outlook on life. Songs like The Other Side or You Don't Owe Me Anything were what I ran to when I got my heart broken in the summer of 2014, and I have vivid memories of myself crying on a train on the way back home from Sonisphere or in the middle of the Melkweg, in Amsterdam - but ultimately, I felt better in the end. (Thank God, though, imagine crying your heart out in a boiling hot train packed with people wearing Babymetal t-shirts and not feel better at some point. Now that would be tragic)

The beginning of the Limitless era had been long awaited on my part, and when they announced the world tour, I immediately bought tickets for London, surprised I would get to see them live again that soon. Knowing myself, I probably expected to have to wait until at least 2017. To me, a new Tonight Alive album is a new way of being empowered, of feeling on top of the world, of feeling like nothing can stop me or hold me back, of feeling like whatever I'm going through, there will be a song for me.

Tonight Alive come on stage to new song To Be Free, which had found itself in the list of my favourite songs released in 2015. All four songs from Limitless that had been released are played by the band, and they all have their own, specific atmosphere. To Be Free makes me feel like I can achieve anything ; Drive feels like road trips and sunshine in the best possible way ; Human Interaction is hauntingly beautiful and inspiring ; and last but not least, How Does It Feel is the perfect track to channel any anger you would have lying around.

Tonight Alive play a fairly short set, which is to be expected as the new album isn't released yet, and the best part of it is composed of songs from The Other Side. The acoustic rendition of Complexes brings a few tears to my eyes, and the reworked version of the title track, which includes lyrics that aren't in the original song, absolutely shatters me. This song already meant the entire world and beyond to me as it was but the added lines made it even more special. Almost three years after they have been released, the songs from The Other Side still ring true to me and probably always will, and I will always, always fight not to be anyone's second best as Don't Wish promotes, I will always think about an incredibly important part of my life when I listen to Lonely Girl, and I will always feel proud of the things I've achieved when Hell and Back comes on because it perfectly describes the state of my life a few years back and how I feel about it now.

Older songs get a live outing too, such as the heartbreaking Amelia (the fact that they all manage to play it without having a mental breakdown is genuinely beyond me), or one of the band's earliest tracks, Wasting Away, introduced to the Forum by a speech from frontwoman Jenna McDougall on how our lives have purpose and how wrong it would be of us not to see it.
(By that point, I was curled up in a ball on the floor, in tears. Sorry)

On stage, Tonight Alive prove once again to be a beautiful live band. They had left on top of the world at the end of the Other Side era, and at the Forum, first stop of their first UK tour since November 2014, they simply pick up where they had left off. Jenna's voice and live presence is as jawdropping as always, and a lot of emphasis is put on drummer Matt Best (whose drum kit is on a high platform, and for this I would like to thank God, but also Jesus), bassist Cameron Adler, and guitarists Whakaio Taahi and Jake Hardy as well. One of my favourite things about the Sydney lot is that they are a band in the purest way, a tight unit, a group of friends playing the music they love together. Our scene's (and maybe our world's) twisted, fucked up ways tend to shift the focus on Jenna only because she happens to be a woman, and that is the stupidest thing to do, really - there are so many reasons for someone to give their attention to Tonight Alive, and their singer's gender is not really a good one.

Listen to them because they have talent, because you appreciate their energy, because Jenna's voice moves you, because Matt's drumming gives you goosebumps, because you love Jake's and Whakaio's riffs, because Cameron's bass lines give you chills, because their lyrics ring true to you, because you agree with their message. Don't listen to them because Jenna is a woman. Don't reduce them to their singer's gender. There are a million reasons to like a band. Don't pick this one.

At the end of a wonderful evening, I feel on top of the world - as always when I see Tonight Alive. I feel powerful, I feel great, I feel like I can do anything, I feel positive. And I want to thank them all for it, because they are one of the best things that have ever happened to me, one of the best things I have, and also one of the most stable ones. Whatever happens, they are here for me, always, and at a time when life has just exploded again, I am incredibly grateful that they will be around to help. Again.

I had written this review before Limitless was released and now the ending has changed. I am still looking forward to more Tonight Alive gigs and more evenings during which nothing can touch me. Limitless is all I wanted it to be and more and once again, I will let my life be taken over by their music. I think I'll always be emotional when it comes to them.