I don't need to go over the story of how much I love Bury Tomorrow - everyone knows, I know, I often annoy myself with how much I actually adore the Southampton lot. One thing I have to tell you, though, is that despite seeing them twenty-seven times (I know, right), I had never seen them in their hometown of, well, Southampton. I have seen them destroy Portsmouth's Wedgewood Rooms during the Runes tour of 2014, I have seen them bring chaos to Bournemouth's Sound Circus during 2015's Stage Invasion Tour (hell, I have almost broken my hand at that show), but I had never seen them in Southampton.

And then, as you know, they announced the Engine Rooms show and it just happened. Finally.

Opening the night for me was one of my newfound favourites and one of the revelations of 2015 in my life, Every Time I Die. I had seen them supporting Architects in February 2015 and my brain had completely missed out on them (one of these sad days), and then I had seen them in Lyon in June as I had gone down south to see In Hearts Wake, and I stood there, with my heat migraine and after ten million sitting down pauses (I was slightly sick, as you can tell) and that was an "Oh. That band. I'm an idiot, aren't I?" kind of moment.

The Engine Rooms show was my first time managing to see them since that boiling hot night. The Americans had to cancel the end of their UK tour in November following the Paris attacks, when they came back, everything was sold out, and I missed them at Slam Dunk because the stage times changed and fucked it all up. The Engine Rooms show definitely made up for it, and it was about time.

Every Time I Die are one of the best bands around, full stop, and I can't believe that it took me such a long time to figure it out. Their performance was electric and incredible - they are a band that have perfected their formula, they know how to interact with a crowd, they know how to perform, and the fact that every single one of their songs is so damn catchy clearly makes them even more amazing than I hope you've realised they are yet. There is horrible dad dancing on my part (imagine dad dancing to a hardcore band? That is, in the words of the great Hannah Montana, the best of both worlds), there might even be tears, but there is mostly happiness at the fact that I finally got to enjoy an Every Time I Die set as a fan.

After this show, I was praying they would find their way to the UK and even dared hoping for a Haunt show when Low Teens was released and guess what? It's all happening. Also, anyone else excited for their song with Brendon Urie? Just me?

(PS : Someone kindly informed me that when watching Every Time I Die, you don't dance, you mosh. I'm glad we all know how to act accordingly next time)

I love the vibe of a hometown show. I just do. You know that the band on stage is a bunch of heroes coming home, the prodigal sons offering their metalcore to the world and finding their way back to the South Coast to be adored by their neighbours, families and fans who probably run into them on the way to Tesco the same way I've seen the members of Architects in vegan cafés and organic shops.

It is one of the only headline shows this lot has done to support 2016's Earthbound, and it was about time. Seven or eight songs whilst I was sitting down in Brixton was clearly not enough, I needed to hear more than that, I needed their own show and my wish was granted.

And what a show, guys. What. A. Show. As always, Bury Tomorrow know how to deliver, and even when I have gotten to a point when singing along to the lyrics to Lionheart includes me echoing frontman Dani Winter-Bates' "From the front to the back, from the left to the motherfucking right" during one of the breakdowns, I still greatly enjoy myself when I see them. Standing at the back and trying to place a couple of dance moves without knocking anyone's beer about was a bit frustrating (I had to leave early as the last train left at eleven, hence why I was standing at the back and not making myself some space to dad dance (or maybe mosh, who knows if the ETID Dancing Restriction applies to Bury Tomorrow too? Have I made a complete fool of myself during these past twenty-seven shows?)), but I still had a whole lot of fun and found myself in tears, proud of that band who has been the kindest to me from the very start, who had broken the top forty twice in their career with gnarly metalcore albums, who just amaze me with how down to Earth and talented they are.

The setlist includes a lot of songs extracted from Earthbound, obviously, and a whole lot of goldies but oldies worthy of awful singalongs on my part (think tracks like You and I or An Honorable Reign, anyone who was stood next to me realised that I ain't no Jason Cameron). And you know, the mixture of all of this is why I love hometown shows as much as I do. You get to see the bands you love surrounded by people who probably love them as much as you do, everyone is singing along and dancing with their friends and opening pits so large they make it to the walls, and the atmosphere is just so damn special. And it was worth it. It was worth missing Man on Fire (though it was sad, let's be honest), it was worth taking about four hours to get home when I only live in Brighton, it was worth running to the train station after work. It was worth every tiny second.

As always, Bury Tomorrow have exceeded my expectations and have shown me why on bloody Earth I give them as much of myself as I do. What a band, my friends. What a night. See you in November.