The Dillinger Escape Plan, VOWER & Frontierer at O2 Kentish Town Forum
“Take a bow, you deserve it. Eat shit, you earned it.”
Words and Photography by Kieran White. Please contact before any usage.
Since 2017 we have been mourning the loss of metal’s most esoteric and frantic band. The Dillinger Escape Plan went out on a creative high note, dropping the melancholic mathcore masterpiece Dissociation in 2016 and their signature brand of bedlam standing at the top as the genre’s most important and seminal band. 2024 brought us the ultimate surprise as the band announced a small amount of reunion shows with original vocalist Dimitri Minakakis to celebrate the 25th anniversary of their legendary debut album Calculating Infinity. In 2026, that show has finally been brought to UK shores.
The band picked home-grown supports for their visit to the UK – Scotland’s Frontierer and Brighton’s VOWER are two sides of the same coin for The Dillinger Escape Plan’s core sound, with VOWER embodying the melodic and emotion that vocalist Greg Puciato brought into the band and Frontierer emboldening the unrelenting chaos of a 100 car pile up that is Calculating Infinity. A surefire triple threat lineup of old and new blood, certain to cause arrhythmia.
It’s worth mentioning that this show was downgraded, from O2 Academy Brixton to O2 Forum Kentish Town, which is a fairly significant cut with some tickets still being available. One can point the finger in a few directions – Monday night in festival season, less than load-bearing supports, die-hards already traveling for the 2025 New York shows, the news that this would be the last run of shows came much later on. But above all, it’s likely that knowing the set would focus on just one corner of their discography that doused some interest. Dillinger fans are a diverse bunch, as evidenced by the extremely, extremely wide range of band shirts at the show, so only a subset were truly energised.
Regardless of numbers, Calculating Infinity and its accompanying EPs are foundational works for modern heavy and complex music. The ‘downgrade’ would be considered by many as an ‘upgrade’ – it’s more intimate, which absolutely matters for intense stuff as much as gentle, and the mosh-zone is superior at Kentish Town.
Frontierer
Frontierer are a band that we’ve seen and covered multiple times on the site, an underground legend whose live shows are the sonic equivalent of the large hadron collider, the screams of dying computers and visually a photosensitive epileptic’s worst nightmare. Frontierer continue to blow us away in studio, and even more so that they’re able to translate such incomprehensible material into a live set. If Frontierer’s sound is that of a dying star, the band members are the supernova that comes after as they perform with boundless energy leaving us with 35 minutes of pure unadulterated cybernetic death. Vocalist Chad Kapper’s spite-filled shrieks pierce through the seismic pounding of Pedram Valiani and Dan Stevenson’s guitars. The presence of Frontierer is impossible to ignore, an indomitable force that you are not safe from. As Kapper and Stevenson jump into the crowd, you can’t help but watch in disbelief as this underground band dominate this 2,300 cap venue in extremely convincing fashion.
VOWER
Prog post-hardcore new bloods VOWER offer a much needed reprieve from the chaos before the main act. Comprising of ex-members from Palm Reader, Black Peaks and Rabea Massaad of Toska, VOWER are a new supergroup of sorts that have been rapidly growing in popularity and rinsing the live circuit since their inception in 2024. In the absence of those three bands they had big shoes to fill, but with their collective experience they’ve forged VOWER into a formidable live act in just 2 short years. We saw them at ArcTanGent 2024 and 2025, and now with their second EP A Storm Lined With Silver releasing towards the end of 2025 their live set has gotten much meatier. Vocalist Josh Mckeown owned the stage with his incredible presence and vocal calibre, effortlessly switching between screams and clean singing, a trait that Greg Puciato of The Dillinger Escape Plan also held. This trait was an essential melodic element for the evening, especially after already being brutalised by the opener. Excellent post-rock-esque atmospheres beautifully intertwined with chunky, groovy riffs on tracks like Deadweight and Stuck, all amplified by Mckeown’s fantastic vocal performance. VOWER continue to prove themselves as a mighty force in the UK live scene, effortlessly hypnotising the crowd with melodic splendour and a commanding stage presence.
The Dillinger Escape Plan
The atmosphere in the O2 Kentish Town Forum was palpable, the thought of seeing The Dillinger Escape Plan again for many people was an impossibility; yet, here we are. Within a moment’s notice of the band walking on stage we’re hit with “Destro’s Secret“, an assault of strobes, and guitarist Ben Weinman beginning his shenanigans jumping off of boxes, amp stacks and swinging his guitar around like a rabid dog ragging his favourite toy. The crowd was just as feral, as the “core” fans wanted to spin fast and aggressively while the “math” fans just wanted to have their little freak outs in unison. There’s no possible unified response to the relentless volleys of precise carnage, it was a chaotic mess just as you’d expect from the seminal mathcore act.
Despite not having worked as a unit in over 20 years, Dimitri Minakakis and the rest of the band worked their chaotic cacophony in perfect synergy. There was concern that Minakakis not having been in a band or playing live consistently over the years may have made him rusty, but he sounded record perfect and his aura was unmistakable. His interactions with the crowd showed passion and love for the iconic music he was a part of, and despite Calculating Infinity not being sing-along music it didn’t stop a few dedicated fans from getting a mic grab from Minakakis. The rest of the band’s performances were obviously nothing to scoff at either, with Ben Weinman putting on a masterclass of incomprehensible guitar passages and stage acrobatics, bassist Liam Wilson stomping around on stage like a raging bull, and rhythm guitarist James Love bouncing back and forth barely holding his balance.
Despite The Dillinger Escape Plan putting on a phenomenal show, a lot of the band’s legacy is thanks to what came after Calculating Infinity. Albums like Miss Machine and Ire Works are some of the most celebrated albums in the genre, as well as being the reason why a lot of people would’ve got into the band in the first place. Not hearing those iconic later era songs is an unfortunate downer for a lot of people. What is undeniable is that although Calculating Infinity is arguably the band’s weakest material, the prowess and mastery on display is genuinely incredible to watch and it’s such an extraordinary show.
Aphex Twin cover “Come to Daddy” was one of the few moments during the set that delivered a steady beat, a more than worthwhile inclusion for a slight calm before the storm. Closing the set was the legendary “43% Burnt“, an irrefutable banger with one of the most recognisable riffs and breakdowns in metal history. This is where the band goes all out, spending every last bit of their remaining energy on being as riotous and anarchic as possible. Before the final breakdown, Weinman goes on an adventure and climbs the stairs and starts playing outside the stairs railing before jumping off straight into the crowd. At this moment security tried to stop the show making X signs with their arms, but the disarray only continued. Panic chords ring out as the crowd took the security signals as a mission to send as many surfers over the barrier as possible while Weinman is still in the crowd. It was pure apocalypse and a perfect way to finish their final UK show.
All in all, getting to see The Dillinger Escape Plan in any capacity is a win. There’s not been a band since that has managed to capture the same energy that they pioneered. Despite the original gamble of a double the size venue not panning out, having the show at a smaller yet arguably better venue served this show much better than Brixton ever could. The Dillinger Escape Plan put on a beyond magnificent show and they are sorely missed, and we all wish they could stay just a bit longer.
