O2 Kentish Town Forum, London, 01/04/25
There is nobody who deserves this more than Johnny Franck.
2500 people, crammed into every nook and cranny of the Kentish Town Forum, are screaming every word that he croons right back at him at what is the biggest headline show that Bilmuri has ever played, 3829 miles from home. A show that was half this size when first announced at the start of the year, initially at Camden’s Electric Ballroom, before being upgraded when demand hit heady heights following their life-changing support slot across Europe with Sleep Token this past Winter.
And though so many have joined the party very recently, this isn’t Johnny’s first rodeo. He is a man who has devoted his entire adult life to innovating and invigorating alternative music, influencing and uplifting more bands than many may even realise, and pushing the boundaries of what this vibrant scene is capable of. A true beacon for how personal and powerful music can be when you allow your soul to do the talking during its creation. Of what it means to be unapologetically yourself in a world that so often tries to scare you into doing exactly the same as everyone else. He embodies sticking to your guns through thick and thin because the moment you’ve been dreaming of will hit you like a freight train when you least expect it.
“I’m not crying; I’m just sweating out my eyes,” he mews, but everyone in attendance knows those tears are real and have been ready and waiting to fall for quite some time.
But before the main event, South Arcade ensure that things are nice and hot just in case such a perspiration-based excuse is needed. Their energetic, bruising and irresistibly catchy brand of pop-rock bristles with the carefree energy of 2004 whilst still feeling wonderfully current. And between the bold battery of ‘DANGER’, the sticky sweet ‘Supermodels’ and a ferocious cover of Justin Timberlake’s ‘SexyBack’, they gain a whole new gang of friends. Though it’s in the story they tell before closer ‘stone cold summer’ of how they were recruited for this tour via an excitable Instagram DM from Johnny himself that warms the heart even more than the riffs. A reminder that your favourite bands are fans first and always have been.
Though Bilmuri has been Johnny’s experimental vessel for almost a decade now, and this is only the band’s second trip to the UK, it feels like being patient and waiting till now to show off everything they embody has paid off in abundance. From the moment the band step out on stage to the most rapturous of screams and kick into the southern fried hooks of ‘EMPTYHANDED’, this is as brilliant a show as you are ever likely to see. A true masterclass in balancing energy, emotion and empathy that takes years of devotion to get right.
Latest album, the country-coated ‘AMERICAN MOTOR SPORTS’, is the big focus of much of the setlist, with 12 of its 14 songs getting a showing. And that is fine and dandy when ‘ALL GAS’ is delivered with such gooey-eyed intent, ‘2016 CAVALIERS (OHIO)’ is filled with so much hometown pride and ‘BOUTTACASHEW’ gets the pit swelling as much as it does. However, when they look to the past, it’s even clearer just how ahead of the curve Bilmuri has always been. ‘ABSOLUTELYCRANKINMYMF’INHOG’ and ‘FLOURIDEINTHEHARDSELTZERWATER’ from 2020’s ‘EGGY POCKET’ are readymade for rooms of this size, shimmering with an ethereal atmosphere between erupting into total chaos, whilst the instrumental run-through of the riffs and beats that make up ‘80/20 SKYBEEF’, first appearing on 2019’s ‘RICH SIPS’, demonstrates just how deep the forward-thinking and genre-busting foundations of this project sit.
In addition, the unbelievably talented set of musicians that Johnny now has in his ranks truly takes these bangers he has fashioned from great into the stratosphere. Drummer Xavier Ware is as tight a rhythmic backbone as you can get, delivering each technical hit and poppy refrain like it is second nature. Guitarist Reese Maslen is a genuine triple threat, shredding fretboards, crushing harsh vocals and still finding time to shout out Fortnite, Minecraft and Stardew Valley. And Gabi Rose is the definition of a superstar, going from sliding on her knees and dealing out the smoothest saxophone lick to dispatching the most spine-tinglingly stunning vocals in the blink of an eye. The chemistry, the connection and the care poured in from every member of this ensemble is incredible to behold, so much so that Johnny has to take a literal seat at the back of the stage more than once to marvel at the talent on show.
This high level continues throughout the band’s hour in the spotlight, allowing the likes of ‘LIVIN’, LAUGHIN’, LOVIN’’ to reach harmonious new heights whilst the singalong that accompanies the near-perfect ‘THE END’ almost rips the roof clean off this gorgeous building. Though before the one-two hit of an emotional ‘STRAIGHT OUTTA YOU’ and joyous ‘BETTER HELL (Thicc Boi)’, there is a moment for cadence and reflection that silences the room for the first time tonight.
Johnny begins to talk through the months that preceded the band a decade ago, where he felt he had nothing to live for and had even planned out the way that he was going to take his own life. But rather than go through with it, he wrote down what he was feeling and put it into song, the thing that had always been there for him, culminating in 2016’s debut offering ‘Jaguar Shark’. In choosing to keep on going, to keep on fighting, to use his lifelong passion as his crutch, he has found his way here, to a place where his art means the absolute world to so many and is sure to mean so much to those who are still yet to discover it. And to admit all of this during such a moment of huge celebration is a testament to letting everybody know how important it is to not be ashamed of where you have come from but to use it to propel you forward. And if one person in this room is changed because of this honesty, then everything else that has surrounded it is a cherry on top.
As an encore of ‘CORN-FED YETIS’ bring things to a crushing close, the smiles radiating from every corner of this room could light the whole of North London. Though we are nearly a decade in, this feels like the beginning of something truly sensational for Bilmuri. As fun, frantic and fantastical as experiencing music should always be, with emphasis on expressing yourself in whatever way feels right, a new community has been born right before our eyes. And coming from a place where it was just him, his guitar and one last chance to make things work, for Johnny Franck, that is special beyond words.
“This really is the greatest day of my life,” he admits, and you just know there are many more like this on the horizon.
