“Leeds how the fuck are we doing?!”
An almost maximum capacity Leeds Arena responds emphatically with screams and cheers as Colson Baker, AKA Machine Gun Kelly (7), kicks off a twenty-seven-track set in style. Only MGK could enter the stage from above via a rope ladder dangling from a pink and black helicopter and nobody bat an eyelid at how ridiculous that is, because we’ve learned by now with MGK expect the unexpected.
The show is underway with the drum driven ‘Born With Horns’ as he swings around the arena stage before being lowered down to meet his band on the stage, where he’s handed his guitar to lead us into ‘God Save Me’. The songs restarted after a technical difficulty half way through, as MGK states “these people have come for a show so we’re gonna do it properly”. Second time around it’s tackled perfectly, and the show is well under way. It’s clear with his attitude to his performance aside the sheer volume of effort and thought that’s gone into this show MGK wants to make this a night to remember for his fans.
The stage is built risen with black and white squares, covered with screens with interesting visuals throughout as well as inflatable bodies and robots, with a dash of flying sparks, fire dancers and blasts of fire shooting from the stage. His band are in fantastic form throughout the set and sound incredibly tight and well-rehearsed. Guitarist Sophie Lloyd works her way around the stage with solo infused back bends and power stances on top of the speakers, whist guitarist Justin “Jus” Lyons and Bassist Steve “Baze” Basil work the stage behind MGK driving us through the set with riffs to bounce to from start to finish.
The tattooed Texan knows exactly how to work the crowd with his rap-punk-rock and swagger. Even between songs he’s keeping the crowd entertained as well as himself blustering around the stage cigarette in hand making sure everyone is having the best night possible.
Unsurprisingly his set is crammed with tracks from his latest album ‘Mainstream Sellout’ released in March, and it’s the first time the crowd get to hear a lot of his best material. ‘Maybe’ features early with the backing track of Bring Me The Horizon’s Oliver Sykes which sounded brilliant, and fan favourites ‘Emo Girl’ & ‘Ay!’ are thrown into the mix too.
There is still a great mix in the huge setlist of his older material too and every track is received fantastically by the crowd. ‘I Think I’m OK’, ‘Forget Me Too’ and ‘Bloody Valentine’ are still clear favourites as they all turn up the heat, not just with the pyrotechnics but also with the crowd’s excitement.
The later stages of the set find MGK take to the stage with his guitar alone, equipped with a pink cowgirl hat received from the crowd for a mash up of acoustic versions of ‘Love Race’, ‘Why Are You Here’, ‘Jawbreaker’ and ‘Sid & Nancy’, before ‘Forget Me Too’ kicks back into its full force as the band return to stage to close out the show with intent.
‘Make Up Sex’ and ‘My Ex’s Best Friend’ throw the crowd into pandemonium for the big finale as it rains pink confetti hearts, and ‘Twin Flame’ closes out the night with a change of pace before it kicks in with its blistering guitar solo and pounding drums leaving the crowd applauding MGK and his band from the stage.
It’s a show that dove beyond just the live music with MGK personality and confidence, and the set crammed with pyrotechnics and extravagant extras are a perfect representation of what Machine Gun Kelly is all about. He teased the crowd about wanting to headline Leeds Festival and if his shows can continue to develop in the manor they have, there is no reason he doesn’t have a valid argument. Whatever comes next will certainly continue to turn heads all over the world with MGK.
Check out more live photos of Machine Gun Kelly at Leeds Arena HERE!
(PLEASE DO NOT CROP OR EDIT PHOTOS)
Photo Credit: © Danny Peart Photography 2022
