Capturing human emotion and connection in one of its purest forms, Holding Absence brought a rousing performance to Oxford to electrify our souls on Friday night.

It’s a Friday night before Halloween in Oxford, so you can imagine the scene; there are students bumbling about, others dressed up in costume to go out, and restaurants buzzing with patrons. Yet none of this can provide even a slight hint of the emotion and veracity that is about to be experienced as Holding Absence gear up to take the stage of Oxford’s O2 Academy. Delivering a set focused around their latest album, The Greatest Mistake Of My Life, it’s an evening of hard-hitting tracks and unadulterated emotion. Shared through an unspeakable bond between the band and their fans, it’s a truly special return to live music for the band.

As the lights start dimming and the soft opening of Awake starts filtering through the speakers, there’s a palpable excitement that flitters through the room. It’s a mixed crowd, with some who saw the band the last time they played in Oxford four years ago, and some who are only seeing them for the first time after discovering their music over lockdown. Whichever group you fell into, you knew you were going to be in for a special time when the ripping opening of Celebration Song rings out, and vocalist Lucas Woodland declares, “I’m alive.” As the instrumentals kick in with an equally defiant fervour, it feels like a weight has been lifted off your shoulders, and it’s a moment of pure catharsis with fist-punching, head-banging, and whatever actions your body compels you to do.

Continuing on with Curse Me With Your Kiss, the rousing drums provide a dynamic pick-up, full of adrenaline and energy to surge through you and flood your nerve-endings. Keeping the pace up with Monochrome, it was one of the few moments in the set that departed from their most recent album, making it feel particularly special. The chorus felt as gripping as the first time we heard it, and the catchiness reinforced the fondness that had been building up since the start. They continue blazing forward with Beyond Belief, one of the poppiest tracks within the band’s catalogue, and it’s a unifying moment as the whole crowd jumped along to Lucas asking, ‘is it beyond belief that I could ever feel there’s so much more to it all?’

The gears quickly change as the band take a dark turn with Nomoreroses, and unleash a torrent of crunching riffs and red-hot drums. From the prior, more upbeat tone of the set, Nomoreroses bleeds into an unrestrained moment of fury, intense passion, and human emotion in its rawest form. The honesty pierced through whatever defences you may have built up and there was truly a sense that this was a moment of desperation, of letting all of your feelings surface and simply experiencing the vividness and extremities of life. But almost as quickly as it came, it was over and the normal course of business resumed with the highly singable Birdcage.

Pulling out Gravity and Like A Shadow, the singalongs were getting progressively louder as the band performed hit after hit, offering the perfect blend between memorability and visceral lyricism that strike right at the core of your being. Rounding off the evening with Wilt, it was a beautiful moment as nearly the whole crowd got onto each other’s shoulders, and strangers clutched onto each other while singing their hearts out, demonstrating just how powerful and connecting the right music can be. Translating the full effect of their recorded catalogue into the live circuit, Holding Absence blow us away every time we see or hear them, yet it never ceases to feel as refreshing as ever as they dig right into your psyche and provide music that captures our most unfiltered moments.

Photos: Athena Kam