Gig write-up(s): TheBoyShadow @ Camden Assembly 06/04/26 & O2 Forum Kentish Town 21/04/26
Let him cook.
Contextual biscuits
A few years ago I was listening to some Deftones on the tube, and then Spotify started autoplaying a song called Two-Way Mirror. This led me to the album I Let It In And It Took Everything by Liverpool based band Loathe, and I quickly found myself in a chokehold. It fundamentally changed how I viewed heavy music during a time in which I could feel myself growing away from the genre.
I’d never heard any band move between pretty and heavy as perfectly as they did. I would see them support Spiritbox at the Roundhouse in 2023, as well as open for Fightstar at Wembley Arena in 2024, and finally headline the Electric Brixton in 2025 - some of the most incredible gigs I’ve been to. I’ll always be grateful to Loathe for helping me find my way back to the genre which has filled my life with so much colour ever since.
I was high-key quite late to the band so even though they’d been a four-piece all the times I’d seen them live, at some point during the Great Loathe Album Drought* I learned that they used to be a five-piece. I would then learn of Connor Sweeney who had played guitar in the band but left in 2021 - two years after the aforementioned album was released. Upon his departure he signaled that a musical future was still very much on the cards. Sometime between then and the beginning of 2026, Sweeney’s new project TheBoyShadow was born.
Those of us who kept up with Sweeney’s career had no idea what to expect from his new musical endeavour, but were excited to be along for the ride. It was clear from the announcement on social that TheBoyShadow was going to be heavy on the visuals and maybe even lore, but it was only in March when the band’s first single Give Me A Seam And I’ll Show You The Meaning dropped (thus losing the never dropping music competition) via Roadrunner that we got to hear what it sounded like. And what it sounded like was heavy. We were so back.
I fired up the music video on YouTube and smiled as the 4:3 aspect ratio and Roadrunner Records logo transported me back to 2005. I think we all got so used to boring music videos that I was a bit taken aback by the genuinely striking visuals which TheBoyShadow was treating us to. In it, we find ourselves in a room with Sweeney and the three other highly styled and masked band members**, jumping rapidly between stylistic found footage-esque potato quality and clean visuals. It had the feeling of trying to remember a bad dream. I may be wrong but I thought I could make out a loose story of a chained up Sweeney being anointed by the twins (we’ll get to them), who then bow to him as he rises. I really wish that I had a seam to give because I don’t know what any of it means. But I was invested. And I was very curious of how this visual identity would translate onto the live stage.
Gig 1 - Camden Assembly 06/04/26
Fast forward to TheBoyShadow’s debut show at the 200 cap Camden Assembly on the Easter bank holiday, which was an appropriate date given the musical resurrection we were about to witness. The last time I’d been at this venue I saw a band called Token Honey play a Kylie Minogue medley which absolutely slapped and is a gig I still think about, so the bar was high. I arrived in time to catch openers Held Under and Love Letter, the former of which have actually been produced by Sweeney, delivering meaty riffs to get the crowd going as more and more people packed into the venue. Like everyone there my expectations were high but ill defined, having got a ticket based on only one released song, Sweeney’s credentials, and a vibe. The stage changeover only thickened the air of mystery as two previously dormant screens awoke, flanking the drum kit (which I swear doubled in size).
The set opened with a monologue introducing TheBoyShadow as being a product of what shouldn’t have been. As this was going on, a drummer in a metallic mask and Sweeney in a sick looking devil fruit print jacket moved into place. And then the masked monochrome twins appeared as the first song kicked in - somewhere in my notes I wrote “they look like they’d be easy to draw” so here’s a drawing I did on MS paint (graphic design is my passion):
They were visually equal and opposite as they flanked Sweeney (see diagram), the three vocalists together made me think of this meme:
With the two screens delivering visuals including familiar ones from and expanding on the music video, along with flashes of some recognisable anime references, it came together as visual identity the like I’d never seen before on a live stage. I’m such a sucker for lore and symbolism, so my mind wandered to what it all meant.
Because I have no imagination I had assumed Sweeney might be playing (live) guitar as with his previous project, which was my first mistake. My second mistake was assuming that a live metal act would in fact have any live guitars. Not the case with TheBoyShadow, where the drums and vox were the only live elements, and everything else (i.e. all guitars) was played back. Sweeney would later state on an instagram story that the inspiration to focus on live vox came partly from boybands and the ability of vocalists to more naturally connect with live audiences and make an impact on stage (I’m paraphrasing hard, I suggest you read his whole rationale). I’ve always been drawn to bands which go hard on harmonies/back up vox so, to me, the idea of a metal project taking cues from the boyband world is a genuinely novel and compelling way to approach live metal music.
Three dedicated vocalists meant that TheBoyShadow could deliver some amazing harmonies and cool call and response elements. Because of that, I found the vocals to be the most striking thing from a sonic perspective, and how they layered in both the cleans and screams. In that sense I think TheBoyShadow, by way of its focus on live vocals, was successful in applying learnings from other genres to this metal-centric project.
I say “metal-centric” because while the debut single definitely set the tone for and sat at the heavy end of the set, TheBoyShadow proved that they have many colours and textures. They showed a huge amount of range in moving from the heavy and riff driven, to the poppy and melodic, a whole load of shades between that, and to even a DnB-type track to remind us all that these are in fact, British men. You could headbang to a lot of it (yay!), but there were songs such as one I can now identify as Bliss Being that demanded more of a dancey dance (yay!). I love a gig that lets you do both so thanks for indulging me, TheBoyShadow.
At some point toward the end of the half an hour set of seven songs, some hardcore kid decided my time had come and I made friends with the floor. Not long after I scraped myself up, the set concluded with Give Me A Seam And I’ll Show You The Meaning. Sweeney said “cheers” and then evaporated. I did some black t-shirtmaxxing on my way out, and reveled in the fact that I was finally early to a band! Stonks!
I didn’t actually know at the time that I was a prolific and celebrated music writer so I didn’t write my immediate reflections down. But thankfully, I only had to wait two weeks to see them again.
I left a fan!
Gig 2 - O2 Forum Kentish Town (opening for PRESIDENT) 21/04/26
I fought for my damn life in the Ticketmaster wars to get into this gig, which inevitably sold out even without any support announced at the time. After seeing flashes of their US shows opening for Bad Omens on my socials, I knew this PRESIDENT headline gig was going to slap, tube strikes be damned (big up the Thameslink). My excitement was compounded by the fact that I was going to see TheBoyShadow again, who had been announced as the support on this fully sold out eight date UK & Ireland tour. This time they’d be playing the much larger ~2k cap O2 Forum Kentish Town which CityMapper tells me is just an 18 min walk away from where their debut had been made two weeks prior. I was very curious to see how the band’s visual artistry would translate to this much larger stage on the biggest and final stop of this tour.
But a support slot in a much bigger venue is so different to a headline one in a small venue, so even though I’m pretty sure their setlist and stage production elements were largely the same as they had been at the Camden Assembly, it felt like quite a different gig. The venue was already pretty packed as their set kicked off an hour before PRESIDENT’s, and obviously there was also the challenge of winning over an audience who were very much there for the headliner and hadn’t yet had the privilege of consuming the above Contextual Biscuits of this write up.
In terms of how they sounded, I don’t know if it was because their FOH mix was just quieter, or because the venue was much bigger, or because of where I stood, or a combination of all of those, but they felt quiet. I thought that was a shame in that it didn’t let the songs hit as hard as they did at the debut show. The same (22db) ear protection I wore at the Camden Assembly felt like overkill, but as I settle into unc status I’m much more aware of people not wearing ear protection to gigs(!) so maybe the volume was all good for them?
Beyond the sonic, having more space to move around on stage definitely became them and betrayed Sweeney’s slight bias for the stage right (or to you and I, left). I don’t think anyone would’ve guessed it was only their ninth gig in a project which had had music out for less than a month. They were tight, harmonies were on point, and they looked confidently settled into their set.
As you saw from my diagram, Sweeney is the only unmasked member of the band. And in supporting PRESIDENT he was actually the only unmasked performer that night. During the changeover I heard this one guy say something sarcastically to the effect of “oh wow, ANOTHER masked band that doesn’t interact with the crowd”, but I’m pretty sure I also heard him bragging about going into his overdrafts to buy a pint so idk man.
On a level, I see overdraft boy’s point. It’s impossible to be a masked band in 2026 without all the Sleep Token baggage and everything that entails, as PRESIDENT know all too well. But I think it’s important to make a distinction between the anonymity angle and the purely stylistic angle*** which TheBoyShadow takes. They’re also only 75% masked. But yeah, it’s noticeable that there are a lot of masked bands around now. Vessel feature when, TheBoyShadow??
On overdraft boy’s second point around crowd interaction, I noticed that it didn’t stop him from coming to see PRESIDENT. But he’s right that there wasn’t much in the way of back and forth as per the norm of the genre. That said, I think the whole “WHAT THE FUCK IS UP DENNY’S??” type shit would have shattered the illusion of TheBoyShadow’s worldbuilding a bit. Plenty of bands get by without it, and plenty more bands struggle through it, so I don’t think it’s that deep. Sort of unrelated but when I saw Vianova support Novelists at The Dome, they chose the angle of shitting on AI music which I thought was pretty based.
And then it was PRESIDENT time, and they were fucking great. Full write here.
I left a fan still!
Let me talk my shit
From what has been released and played live so far, I think TheBoyShadow’s songs sound great and I can’t wait to see and hear more from them. The aesthetic in particular is so unique and built with intention, I’m so fascinated as to where it’s going. Musically, if you go looking for the Loathe lineage you’ll probably find it. But I don’t believe anyone should go into this thinking they are getting (or worse, owed) 2 Loathe 2 Furious. It’s a different project and should be approached as such.
If you’re a level 10000 metaloid genre cop this may be a challenge for you. Of course there will be people who don’t get it and there’s nothing wrong with that, but I do think there’s an audience for TheBoyShadow’s heavy but genre bending sound and unique aesthetic, and I hope they’re able to find their way to the band. I personally cannot wait for them to release more music and headline bigger stages. I remember the opening song (which I think is called Innocent Instinct) going especially hard, so I’m hoping for that as a next single if anyone wants to join my manifestation circle.
For all the releases to date Sweeney is specifically credited as the writer, engineer, masterer, mixer, while TheBoyShadow** is credited as the producer and main artist. On top of also cultivating a visual identity for the project, mans been BUSY. And he has cooked.
Now what
Go follow @theboyshadowisreal and @imconnorsweeney on ig. My horoscope tells me the Sagittarius Moon aligns with Neptune in Aries and that an album is surely imminent, so keep an eye.
There’s still time to be early to this band (stonks), and you can go catch them at The Great Escape Festival in Brighton, or supporting Thornhill also in Brighton, or at Burn it Down Festival in Torquay.
Stream the new single Give Me A Seam And I’ll Show You The Meaning, as well as the newer single Bliss Being which dropped after both of these gigs and has me disgustingly obsessed. Listen to them back to back and you’ll see what I mean by range for days.
The munch
Camden Assembly: I pre-seshed on some Easter chocolate. I got a free lime and soda at the venue, or as the bartender called it “just water really”. Afterwards I shoved a KitKat in my face which I picked up from bossman at the off-licence on the walk back to Camden Tube.
O2 Forum Kentish Town: Switched it up to a Kinder Bueno for the Thameslink ride there. In a profound act of self denial I smashed some Quorn nuggets when I got home instead of getting a McDonalds.
Post scriptual biscuits
*holy shit new Loathe dropping 17/07/26 wtaf
**It’s not actually clear whether TheBoyShadow is Sweeney’s project plus three live members (á la Bilmuri), or if all four are full members involved with writing, recording, and visual direction, or something in the middle (á la Sleep Token?). I’m going to refer to all four as members in the interest of brevity.
***you can find out who the three masked members are pretty easily if you go looking, I don’t think they’re trying to hide.