I Prevail - O2 Academy Birmingham - 26th September 2026
Last weekend, I Prevail brought not one, but two shows to the heavy metal capital that is Birmingham. “You sold out the first show so quick, we had to add a second,” the band remarked, and after a major show at the iconic Alexandra Palace, the Birmingham dates marked the first overseas back-to-back shows of their Violent Nature tour. Naturally, we were there for night one…
The O2 Academy Birmingham was lively and packed well before opener Gore took to the stage. Fronted by vocalist Haley Roughton, Gore kicked off the night with a solid set, quickly establishing an impressive connection between the band and the crowd. The feeling appeared to be mutual, with the band looking out into the room in awe as Roughton showcased an impressive vocal range, switching effortlessly between soaring clean vocals and guttural screams. For an opening act, Gore certainly made their presence known, leaving the crowd with plenty to remember.
One of the great things about metal shows is that you can seemingly play anything over the PA and people will absolutely eat it up. Between bands, the Academy was treated to a selection of “girlie pop” anthems, with tracks from the likes of The Spice Girls and The Veronicas blasting through the speakers, receiving some very enthusiastic singalongs from the crowd.
Then it was time for Polaris to take to the stage, and they went down a treat with the Birmingham crowd. The Australian metalcore outfit wasted no time in getting the room moving, with the first wall of death of the night breaking out alongside a steady stream of crowd surfers. Their heavier, more aggressive sound was a clear step up in intensity, and the atmosphere inside the Academy quickly shifted from anticipation to outright chaos.
With the crowd now fully warmed up, the stage was set for the main event: I Prevail, but not before another gigantic sing along to MCR’s ‘Teenagers’, Limp Bizkit’s ‘Rollin’’ and Gorillaz’ ‘Clint Eastwood’ before the lights went down dramatically.
After seeing some of the coverage from the Ally Pally show, I wondered how they would scale down to an academy size show, but in reality, they didn’t. The set was an impressive size for the venue with levels and great attention to detail.
Making their grand entrance, I Prevail opened with ‘NWO’, immediately sending the crowd into the pits before ‘Bow Down’ saw crowd surfers flying over the barrier (as a photographer this becomes a fun game of survival for those three songs but it’s part of the job). ‘Self-Destruction’ and ‘There’s Fear in Letting Go’ kept the chaos going, before some playful on-stage banter introduced ‘Violent Nature’, with the band joking that “best friends finish each other off.” A sea of phones soon appeared above the crowd as fans captured the moment, as a casual listener this usually pin points which songs are the most popular.
The surprises didn't stop there. Haley Roughton returned to the stage for ‘Paradise’, while ‘Blank Space’ had the Academy singing along to Taylor Swift, not necessarily what I expected when I walked into a metalcore show that evening but I really enjoyed their rendition.
The second half brought a Metallica cover in the form of ‘Sad but True’, followed by ‘Rain’, a drum solo and a run of fan favourites including ‘God’, ‘Choke’, ‘Come and Get It’ and ‘Hurricane’. By the time ‘Gasoline’ brought the set to a close, the Academy had been subjected to everything from walls of death to Taylor Swift, with barely a moment to catch its breath.
I Prevail certainly didn't hold back. With crushing riffs, huge choruses, plenty of crowd interaction and a few unexpected surprises thrown in for good measure, night one of the Violent Nature tour proved exactly why the band needed two nights in the city.
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