Continuing on in the month of January, Sleep Token posted on their socials a reminiscence of their recent performance in Hamburg while in support of Architects.
Alsterdorfer Sporthalle, Hamburg, Germany
January 6 2023
Caption:
Sacred moments in time, captured in Hamburg by Adamrosssi. Tonight, Düsseldorf shall gather in Worship.
It may come as a surprise to many who follow the collective, but the Black Heart ritual would have been the first ritual if it had not been canceled the end of May. Same thing is true of their first appearance at the UK Tech Fest in July 2017.
The first true ritual came about on October 23 2017 at the O2 Academy Islington in support of Motorpsycho. It was a very small set that included Nazareth, When the Bough Breaks, Fields of Elation, Jericho, and Hey Ya. The setlist may have included others from the EPs released up to that point but there is no footage or record of those songs being performed.
Photographic imagery courtesy Simon Clark [FB]
Additional imagery from Paul Philips [Flickr]
September 2 2022 found the collective still in Texas at the South Side Ballroom in Dallas in support of In This Moment and Nothing More with Cherry Bombs.
The setlist was reported as follows:
Alkaline
Hypnosis
Like That
Sugar
Higher
The Offering
Photographic imagery by xenryiem [IG]
Additional imagery by Alicia Swaithes [FB]
A full videographic record of this ritual was kindly shared by Dustin Jones on YouTube.
It has come to this curator’s attention that the message that was recorded at the Heavy Metal Music Awards in 2021 was also mentioned to have been played at the Download Pilot festival earlier in June 2021.
At the time, it was speculated that it might be used as an intro track in the next album that was scheduled for release in September of 2021.
On this day: September 2 2021
In 2021 on this day, Sleep Token performed at the Heavy Metal Music Awards at the O2 Forum Kentish Town in London, UK. They were not nominated for any awards that year but were eventually awarded Best UK Artist in 2023 and Best Album in 2024 for Take Me Back To Eden.
The setlist for this ritual was reported as:
The Night Does Not Belong to God
The Offering
Alkaline
Sugar
The Love You Want (Live Debut)
Higher
Blood Sport
Photographic imagery by James North [Link]
Additional imagery by Stephen Pryke [FB]
A playlist of available videos from this night.
This event also was supposed to have a live stream but it was canceled due to wardrobe exposure from a previous band.
Additionally, from what this curator was able to find, this was the first ritual with a message during the ritual. Or in this case, opened their ritual as an intro. The first time the message below was played was at Download Pilot in June 2021. It is most well known for being captured from the Heavy Metal Music Award ritual in September of 2021.
Let’s not deceive ourselves.
There is a reason we are here.
It follows us wherever we go.
We were in love.
We. Are. In. Love.
It is what floats above us as we try to sleep.
It is what stands beside us as we gaze into nothingness.
It is drowning us.
It is eating us alive.
A million outstretched palms in complete darkness.
They. Will. Reach. Forever.
Remind me.
We’re both dying to find out what happens when we die. We’re both scared of being.
We’re both stolen pieces of each other.
We’re both exploring our own frontiers of grief.
We’re both just strangers.
We’re both just particles.
We’re both so lost in what it means to be lost.
We’re both a house that remained unoccupied for too long. Let’s not deceive ourselves.
Sleep Token performed at the UK Tech-Metal Fest on the Winspear Stage for what is considered only their 8th ritual. At the end of this set was the live debut of Blood Sport, which would not have an official release until November 21 2019 when the album Sundowning was offered for consumption. Due to lack of sources, it is possible that Blood Sport was played previously but this is the first mention of the song the curator of this blog has found so far. Edit: Per advice from another archivist, Blood Sport was also played a month prior, at Download Fest 2018.
The setlist was as follows:
Thread the Needle
Calcutta
Fields of Elation
Jaws
Nazareth
Jericho
Blood Sport
Photo by Serena Hill Photography
Video made by JWACreations
Video snippet of Calcutta by TheAlbinoskunk
Video of Jaws, courtesy of TM Touring
Techfest 2018 film by Loki Films
According to several sources, the original band slated for that event had canceled due to unforeseen circumstances. The festival then advised there was a replacement act, a “worst kept secret”, as Distorted Sound Mag put it. There was hint of it on the collective’s website as well as on their Twitter.
The word “வழிபாடு” used with the July 8th date is Tamil, the world’s oldest spoken language, for “worship”.
For additional photos and saved screenshots of articles and websites reviewed for this curated moment in the collective’s history, please see the Archives drive folder here: 2018 UK Tech-Metal Fest
The Sleep Token Archive 