Sleep Token – The Myth – St. Paul, MN – September 17th, 2023
Sleep Token with A.A. Williams – The Myth – St. Paul, MN – September 17th, 2023
Review by Kate Klaus
Hours before doors, the line wrapped for as far as you could see around the back of the Myth in Maplewood, MN, full of fans excited to have been lucky enough to get tickets to the Minnesota stop of Sleep Token’s first headlining US tour, which sold out in minutes. After what seemed like an impossible wait to enter the venue, it was quickly apparent that this show would be well worth the wait.
Opener A.A Williams took to a fog filled and eerily dark stage, where her silhouette hinted to the eerily beautiful music that she began to fill the room with. A powerful and talented singer-songwriter from the UK, her music was a haunting mix of rock, folk, and alternative stylings. While the thick fog made it difficult to even see the members of the band, the heaviness of their music paired well with the aesthetic. Many in attendance were heard saying how excited they were to have been introduced to her music as a part of this show.
After much anticipation, Sleep Token appeared on stage, with the fog still thick and the atmosphere still enigmatic and mysterious. Their anonymous nature, as well as their referencing of their shows as “rituals” creates the air of not just a concert, but an experience or a ceremony. The shadowy maksed collective opened their set with “Chokehold”, and vocalist Vessel’s powerful and emotional delivery was just the first of a string of mesmerizing songs that had the crowd both in awe and singing along with a sense of connection and shared sentiment. They followed that with “Hypnosis”, with striking riffs and thunderous drums mixed in with an almost pop-heavy chorus. Vessel cryptically gyrates and dances around the stage, while a trio of angelic hooded figures shrouded in haze provided soft and velvety harmonies. The theatrics and antics of bassist iii and guitarist iv were playful, and at times almost childlike, and were somehow a strangely fitting juxtaposition to the often eerie and haunting vocals.
A vast majority of their set was from their recently released album “Take Me Back to Eden”, but they also treated the crowd to “Like That”, “Atlantic”, “Alkaline” and the passionate “The Love You Want” off of “This Place Will Become Your Tomb”, which had the crowd emphatically singing along to Vessel’s powerful and moving vocals. One of the apex moments of the night was the intensely powerful and captivating drumming of ii, particularly during his drum solo in “The Summoning” as they closed the evening. And to finalize the night in a completely ethereal and gripping finale, they took it back to their 2019 album “Sundowning” with the captivating “The Offering”, with Vessel bringing the crowd to tears and leaving them with the experience of a lifetime and an understanding of the “ritual” for which they are becoming a worldwide sensation.