On only their second Manchester appearance, Spiritbox’s rise to the top has been nothing short of extraordinary. From an already upgraded venue back in 2023 to the Co-op Live arena this year, the stakes were extremely high. But from day one of their career, pressure has been secondary, and they blew England away yet again.

Dying Wish wasted no time in announcing their arrival in Manchester, as their demands for crowd surfers were met before the first song even started. From then on, it was nothing but chaos, with security knowing that this was going to be one of those long nights at the barricade. To get a venue that big bouncing so quickly is not something a lot of support acts can pull off, and the Portland hardcore five-piece made it look super easy. Emma Boster’s energy levels and presence serve as an inspiration for anyone hoping to be an aspiring metal singer, because she put on a memorable performance that made first-time attendees like myself want to come back and see them as headliners. She and bassist John Mackey worked together to hype fans up to the max, determined to steal the show from every other band that followed.

Not only was the physical display jaw-dropping, but their musical delivery was spot on. Emma and John’s screams, alongside the riffs of Pedro Carrillo and Sam Reynolds, as well as Jeff Yambra’s drumming, gave off loads of August Burns Red vibes. The melodies and harsh vocals blended nicely with each other, not to mention unpredictable tempo changes, just to add extra goosebumps. It was one of those performances that left a long-lasting impression on Manchester, and for sure, expect more havoc next time.

Up next were Jinjer, who are no strangers to Manchester, and every time they come, expect instrumental nerdiness because that’s what they always bring. They’re a band that can’t be boxed into a single subgenre. From prog to metalcore and even occasional nu-metal sections, you can’t piece together their sound, and that’s what makes them so enjoyable to listen to.

Tatiana Shmayluk’s outrageous vocal range unsurprisingly reared its ugly head once more. She knows just how to seduce an audience into playing her game by using her manipulative persona. The shy but somewhat cheeky-looking smile is incredibly deceiving, as what comes out of that throat of hers is outright scary. They aren’t just any ordinary screams or growls; they’re roars that can give Leo the Lion from MGM a run for his money. She doesn’t have to strain her face at all to get the message across every time she switches to harsh vocals because she can naturally nail that fine balance between voice and onstage choreography. That’s not the end of it, though, as her cleans sound just as tidy, perfectly adapting to dynamic changes.

While Tatiana has forever been the spotlight thief through no fault of her own, the other guys in the band also have their own unique styles of playing that deserve to be appreciated. Vladislav Ulasevich is the timekeeper, with all sorts of tricks up his sleeve that he fires away at will. Dropping in a satisfying blend of polyrhythms and common time signatures simultaneously is something you can only fully appreciate once you’ve seen it live after listening to the final album mix. His composure while casually playing stupidly complicated patterns is worth taking your hat off to, considering the amount of responsibility he has on his shoulders when executing beats of such a high standard.

Regarding strings, Roman Ibramkhalilov’s djent tuning and riff phrasing matched the personality of each song, and everything just seemed to click. Even with the prog elements, though, the crowd surfers didn’t stop, and Jinjer are one of those groups whose set you just don’t want to end once their music grows on you.

Since their last UK tour in 2023, Spiritbox have only played in London and at two other festivals, but their rapid growth has made arena shows inevitable. During the pandemic, when our world came to a standstill, the British Columbia metalcore group were busy making their breakthrough with the release of “Holy Roller” in 2020, followed by their debut album Eternal Blue in 2021, which propelled them into the spotlight.

Regarding their performance, they put the hammer down and delivered a solid five-star display. Spiritbox have upped their game loads since last time, starting with Courtney LaPlante. Her presence is far more commanding than it was back in 2023. She’s adopted a much more sensual type of charisma, and it suits her well. She’s not the type of metalcore singer who sprints, does mega-jumps or two-steps to get an audience going. Instead, it’s subtle, seductive dance moves while her voice does the rest of the talking. Courtney does an excellent job with harmonies and vocal accompaniment, with a great ability to transition between screams and clean vocals according to her musical surroundings. For instance, when a chorus shifts to straightforward power chords or clean guitars are backed by a synth track, she drops back ever so slightly to stay on par with the other instruments.

Keeping her company on backing vocals and bass was Josh Gilbert. He may have only sung the clean parts, but it was a lovely-sounding counterbalance because, in metalcore, dual vocal harmonies are essential for driving a song forward, and he smashed that part. Zev Rosenberg laid down the drumming law with stellar grooves to keep things in check. The stern, concentrated look on his face said it all, as he was really feeling the music coming from deep within his soul. The only slight downside was that the kick drum was too loud in the mix, which made appreciating what was going on a bit harder, but that didn’t spoil the overall experience.

Spiritbox have fought tooth and claw to get to where they are, and Manchester witnessed exactly why their hard work has paid off. They’ve evolved as a group, aren’t afraid to take creative risks and have proven themselves more than capable of commanding an arena. They can return to Canada with their heads held high, knowing they’ve delivered a performance that won England over. With loads of ground still left to cover, the sky’s the limit for the British Columbia quartet.