Live Review: The Horrors begin UK tour in the glorious gloom at a sold-out Esquires in Bedford

Last month, the band returned with their first new music since 2021’s Lout and Against The Blade EPs.

And, while those records saw the band venture into somewhat of a more industrial influenced rock – The Silence That Remains was a return to more familiar, gothy, post-punk territory.

The Horrors fronted by singer Faris Badwan along with bassist Rhys Webb and guitarist Joshua Hayward are now joined by recent additions Amelia Kidd on keyboards and electronics and drummer Jordan Cook.

The opening night of their eight-date UK tour was almost everything you could hope for from the Southend natives.

Intense swirling guitars interlaced with electronics played in a gloomy near darkness with bursts of light behind the band - illuminating different members as they ducked in and out of the shadows.

The band’s sixth album Night Life is out next year and while their set dipped into a few tracks from that record, the bulk of their set at Esquires was drawn from their acclaimed 2009 album Primary Colours and 2017’s V – with a handful of others thrown in.

The Horrors opened with the gloriously heavy and glitchy Whiplash – a track which pushed new member Kidd front and centre alongside Faris as she leaned over an array of effect pedals and electronics while the latter crept in and out of view.

Back-to-back new tracks Trial By Fire and The Silence That Remains gave fans a glimpse of the future while also proving their knack for melding eerie synth lines alongside catchy vocal hooks and choruses is as strong as it’s probably ever been.

Throughout the night, Faris - sporting a pair of fingerless black gloves - used Esquires’ metal barrier at the front of the stage to his advantage, bridging the gap between it and the lighting rig above and reaching out to fans.

Other highlights of the band’s set included unreleased new track More Than Life, Who Can Say and the synth pop closer Something To Remember Me By.

2024 has already seen one of the UK’s alternative goth greats return with one of the best albums of their career.

Hopefully, 2025 will see the Horrors doing something similar with their sixth record while also returning to stages across the UK for more shows.

Finally, it’d be remiss not to mention the merch which included limited edition prints and long-sleeved black t-shirts with print that glows in the dark. Wonderful stuff.

The Horrors played:

Whiplash

Three Decades

Mirrors Image

Machine

Trial By Fire

The Silence That Remains

Ghost

Scarlet Fields

Sea Within a Sea

Still Life

More Than Life

Who Can Say

Encore:

Endless Blue

Something to Remember Me By