London, The O2, April 24, 2026
“This is fuckin’ YUNGBLUD, and this is all about fuckin’ love.”
Midway through his sold-out show at London’s O2 Arena, Dominic Harrison shouts that promise out. Arms outstretched, eyes fixed on the 20,000 gathered before him, it’s a reminder of everything that has brought him to this point.
Ten years ago, Dom and guitarist Adam Warrington moved into a flat in South London with a dream. Back then, the goal was to play a show at O2 Academy Brixton, a 5,000-capacity rite of passage for most British rock bands. Tonight, though, they’re standing a few miles east in a room four times that size, staring out at an arena full of people who have taken the idea at the heart of YUNGBLUD and transformed it into something unbelievable.
That feeling is already taking shape before anyone makes it through the doors of the venue. Parked in the O2’s shopping centre area is a B.R.A.T. van, selling clothing from Dom’s own line. Fans gather around it with coloured pens, covering every available inch with messages for Dom and the Black Hearts Club. Some simply leave their names, whilst others carefully write out messages like ‘keep being you’, ‘thank you for healing me’, and ‘because of the BHC, we’re never alone’. Plenty of shoppers walk past oblivious to what’s happening, but those lining up know exactly what the point of it is. It’s a shrine to the thing YUNGBLUD has always promised his fans – that nobody has to go through this life alone.
Back to the music though, and opening the night are The Molotovs, who arrive dressed sharply and armed with the sort of rock ’n’ roll snarl that feels hardwired into London’s streets. With the confidence and swagger of a band three times their age, they waste little time making the O2 their playground.
“It’s fucking mental being at the O2,” Matt Cartlidge beams as the crowd claps along to debut single ‘More More More’ before the raucous hooks of ‘Newsflash’ get bodies moving, and ‘Rhythm Of Yourself’ delivers a hearty dose of the feel-good Friday night energy we’re all craving. Taking a massive moment in their stride as they close with rollicking album opener ‘Get A Life’ and the joyous ‘Today’s Gonna Be Our Day’, The Molotovs make good on their promise as one of the most exciting young rock bands currently kicking around this city.
The Warning are next, and from the moment a wall of red and white lights flashes in time with the opening pulse of ‘MORE’, the Mexican trio look right at home in a room this size.
“We are The Warning, are you ready to rock out with us?” Dany Villarreal asks after the first song, though the answer is already obvious.
One of the tightest live bands in the game right now, it’s impossible not to get sucked into their world as Dany rips through a solo during the moody extended outro of ‘Escapism’ and the towering hooks of ‘DISCIPLE’ take over. A couple of unreleased tracks make their way into the setlist too, including the Spanish-language ‘Ego’ and the explosive ‘Ritual’, boasting a colossal chorus. By the time ‘Sharks’ arrives on a monster opening riff, and ‘Kerosene’ gets the crowd clapping along, it’s clear that The Warning have understood the assignment – and they’ve absolutely aced it.
Still, as the stage is reset for the evening’s headliner, the atmosphere shifts. The floor is so tightly packed that there’s barely room for fans to reach down into their pockets for their phones, scrambling to get a picture as the lights come up and an ornate golden, proscenium-like frame surrounds the stage. After Black Sabbath’s ‘War Pigs’ elicits a mass singalong, a ticking sound cuts through the speakers, accompanied by black-and-white clips of Dom flickering across the screens before the word ‘hello’ appears in languages from around the world.
When YUNGBLUD emerges, it is with the energy of someone who has spent years imagining exactly what this moment would look like, and as the band opens on the epic sprawl of ‘Hello Heaven, Hello’ – it’s game on.
The white waistcoat draped over Dom’s shoulders barely survives the first song before being whipped off and thrown to the side of the stage, a huge grin spread across his face. Sprinting from one side of the stage to the other whilst powering through the euphoric ‘The Funeral’, the 28-year-old commands the room with a restless joy as he welcomes the room to the ‘Idols’ world tour.
“Are you motherfuckers crazy? Good, ’cause I’m YUNGBLUD and I’m fucking crazy!”
Blasts of pyro add some extra heat to a room that certainly needs no warming up, and what becomes undeniable is that Dom was built for stages like this. For all the chaos, and for all the tongue-out cheekiness, there is a precision to the way he holds the room, inviting each and every person present to have the time of their damn lives.
After banners fly into the air with fans asking to play ‘fleabag’, Mike from Winchester is chosen to come onstage. Dom immediately wraps himself around him, jumping into his arms and kissing his head before reminding the crowd that it “takes a lot of bollocks” to get up there.
As it turns out, Mike can play. Really play. The arena roars him on as he tears through the song, whilst Dom takes the opportunity to get down from the stage, touching as many hands as possible before diving into the crowd.
The energy ramping up, for ‘Lowlife’, the instructions are clear: “London, I want one big fucking party right now!”. Requesting as many people on shoulders as possible, and everyone not in the standing area to climb onto their seats (much to the dismay of the security staff dotted around the room), every corner of the arena seems to oblige, leading Dom to laugh in disbelief as he concedes: “You motherfuckers are crazy!”
When the iconic piano intro of Black Sabbath’s ‘Changes’ rings out, though, the mood shifts to something much more tender, phones rising across the arena.
“You all don’t mind if I dedicate this song to a dear friend of mine in the skies tonight, do you, London?” Dom asks as chants of “Ozzy” begin to ripple through the crowd.
“This next song goes out to Mr fucking Ozzy Osbourne, and we are gonna scream it so loud that he hears it in heaven.”
There’s not one person in the room who doesn’t understand the weight of a moment like this, made clear as Dom leads the arena through an acapella chorus at the song’s end.
“This is fucking crazy… Look how big this community is getting,” he says. “I love you all so fucking much.”
That word – community – sits at the centre of everything tonight. It’s there in the B.R.A.T. van covered in messages before the show. It’s there in the fans helping each other through the crush of the floor. It’s there in stories from across the tour, including the fan who fell ill at the Leeds show and was later helped by fellow fans to make it to Manchester. The Black Hearts Club is not just a fanbase, it’s a living, breathing support network, one that has grown from small rooms and social media friendships into a moment like this.
Throughout the night, Dom says, “I love you” and “thank you” more times than anyone can count, and every single one feels as heartfelt as the last.
“Ten years in the fucking making and we got to the O2,” he smiles, looking out as though he cannot quite believe what is happening.
“I am so proud of what we are fucking becoming,” he tells the crowd. “In a world that is fucking divided, we stand for love. We stand for community. We stand for inclusion.”
As the night draws to a close, he asks everyone to turn to a stranger beside them and shout, “Hello, motherfucker!” followed by, “I fucking love you!” It’s ridiculous, but it speaks volumes about what this is all about. At first glance, it’s thousands of people laughing as they declare their love for someone they may never see again, but watch closer and you can see phones being passed around as strangers follow each other on Instagram. That is what YUNGBLUD has built. Not just a live show big enough to fill arenas, but a space where people are encouraged to make friends and asked to look after one another. A place where weirdness is celebrated, and where love is something to be dealt out liberally.
After a glorious singalong to ‘Zombie’, ‘Suburban Requiem’ drives that message fully home. Statistics about the importance of human connection flash across the screen, repeatedly coming back to the phrase “humanity is global”. Then, as fireworks explode, the words “Don’t forget to live” are plastered in huge letters across the screen.
It’s a fitting final instruction from an artist who has spent the entire night reminding everyone in the room that simply surviving is not enough. You have to let yourself feel it all, you have to shout about it, and you have to find people who will hold onto you whilst you do.
Over the years, a lot has changed for Dom. From the music he’s making to the size of the shows, things look very different to how they did a decade ago, but the message at the heart of all of this has remained the same. YUNGBLUD is still about love, still about inclusion, still about giving people a place to belong.
Only now, that place is big enough for 20,000 people.
