The room is full of people who have been eagerly awaiting The Devil Wears Prada‘s return to the Czech Republic. The crowd consists of people with drawn-on eyeliner album symbols, creatively thought-out fan-made signs with neatly written, emotive lyrics, and a welcoming yet surprisingly calm energy can be felt; people chat casually until…
OVERSIZE
Oversize take to the stage, and eruptions of excited movements from the crowd spans across the room. They’re the first support act for the night, and under the harshest red lighting, they deliver opposing melodies alongside strung-out chords, played while the musicians frantically move around the stage, headbanging with hair flying everywhere, giving full-throttle energy that fluctuates to emotive for certain songs, giving us momentary breaks in-between the chaos. Lots of heartfelt energy is given throughout the performance.
156/SILENCE
156/Silence deliver so much attitude alongside massive amounts of heavy energy from the get-go. Their performance is gritty and raw, yet everything flows immaculately. They brought so much intensely insane energy into the room in a really different and unique way, while portraying a range of emotions and sounds with plenty of chaos throughout the whole performance. They asked for crowd surfers and were delivered bodies back in bulk as the music they play live is the kind that you just can’t help but mosh and move your body to. They created tonight’s first wall of death and had the whole room swaying side to side. Their drive poured off the stage and into the crowd where mass amounts of energy were given right back to them by the audience.
NOVELISTS
Novelists start off their set with crazy riffs played on hot pink guitars, chaotic interludes and regular mood-changing switch-ups, leaving us never knowing what direction their set will take us in next. Their energy fluctuates between electric, edgy, ethereal, and hardcore as they work so well together with an ongoingly incredible stage presence. The lead singer moves elegantly but prominently while her vocals fluctuate from angelic to belting then guttural screaming. Her voice is haunting, powerful, and brutal at all the right times and encapsulates the room while she’s singing and moving gracefully yet chaotically around the stage; which makes for a uniquely balanced performance.
THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA
After what feels like an era of suspense within the room, The Devil Wears Prada takes to the stage with possibly their most elite setlist yet, as they play a well thought out mix of old and new songs- they really kept the fans in mind for these numbers and uniquely created a mix of emotions and actions within the room. They played songs we weren’t sure if we’d ever hear live again and people went from crying, to singing emotively to moshing within moments.
A sea of crowd surfers are moving in waves, illuminated under the bright lights before the room is landed in to a giant circle pit. You can tell the band really love what they do by the way they devote their energy and give their everything to the performance. They steadily play in sync with one another and seem to intuitively predict each others next move, all six musicians make use of the entire stage but never clash as they play out rhythms which highlight and emphasize melodies, never overshadowing them and all adding to a part of their unique over all sound.
They announce this is “The Flowers Tour” and play “For You” while everyone in the rooms arms are around each other, I’m swaying next to strangers holding onto my camera for dear life, as the audience are given the chance for an isolated solo and it was LOUD as the band are officially welcomed back to Prague wholeheartedly.
The bands’ vocal harmonies and adlibs are so strong and powerful in the way they compliment and emphasize each other. Guitars are held above their heads, then swung around as synthesized sounds are delivered. Mike‘s energy is ever fluctuating as he erupts in an unpredictable and contagious way, which the crowd seems to mimic, as they follow his every head bang, fist pump and unpredictable movement.
The show had huge production value with so many original details added including moving graphics on intricate backdrops, and smoke canons highlighting the musicians shapes and movements perfectly while being shot up to the roof. Dramatically intensified and -elongated for suspense- melodic notes lead into graphics which match the songs mood as the band matches the pace effortlessly.
An emergency broadcast system warning comes on to the screen with a zombie hand thumbs up as “Outnumbered” begins to play as the whole room has already split in two for a wall of death… the crowd seem to accurately predict when the heavier songs will be played as the room spreads out wide to brace themselves… and in between the songs you can hear everyone in the room chant either “Praha” or “Prada” at a steady pace. I’m not sure which but either way it’s all love in this room for certain.
Lights from phone torches are held to the sky illuminating the emotions across people’s expressions while the band perform “Chemical” with the crowds arms outstretched towards the stage, Jeremy expresses “We love you” and you can really feel the love within the room tenfold now.
An encore is called for and as the band re-takes to the stage Mike announces “We’re The Devil Wears Prada, and we’re twenty one years old this month…”
A mosh pit erupts before he can finish his sentence…
“We cannot wait to be back… maybe we’ll be at one of those festivals in the early summer… I don’t know.”
Could this be a hint of an announcement?!
“Until then.. love one another, get home safe and please leave this world a better place then you fucking found it. This is The Devil Wears Prada and this is “Hey John, What’s Your Name Again.” As one final and the biggest yet, circle pit ensues.
Tonight was incredibly special. The Devil Wears Prada have always been one of my favourite bands to see live, it’s almost unexplainable- the feeling you get when you watch them play. They make you feel like a part of the show and like you’ve come home and back to yourself. They consistently create a safe space for you to leave your rage in the room and you always leave their shows feeling lighter, brighter and inspired.
