There are moments in every artist’s journey when it feels like they are heading towards something monumental. This is a time when all the toil, trepidation, and tenacity is made worth it because you can see that it is taking them to the very top. Though rather than just having one illuminating moment, Bambie Thug has had several in 2024.

From defying expectations and brilliantly terrifying the musical world at the Eurovision Song Contest to conquering the main stage at Download Festival in the most unapologetically crushing manner, many can only dream of hitting these milestones. Yet Bambie took each in their stride and made them look effortless, refusing to dilute an inch of who they are and captivating thousands in the process.

It’s tonight, in the legendary surroundings of Heaven, that they truly show why they are so generational, though. This is a space where inclusivity, expression and unbridled joy are encouraged on a nightly basis, a freewheeling labyrinth that has played host to queer icons of all varieties. It only feels right that such an iconic venue is the glistening jewel in the dates making up their ‘Crown The Witch’ tour. And the whole gamut of souls they have enraptured on their way here is out in full force under these famous arches. From leather-clad queens in platform heels to metalcore connoisseurs in their finest Ice Nine Kills and Invent Animate merch, everybody is represented gorgeously here, all finding a part of themselves in this chaotic universe and letting it inspire them to be loudest and their proudest.

And as they take to the stage, perch on the towering throne placed front and centre and an impish giggle escapes their smiling lips, you can see just how powerful Bambie feels in this moment. Though when the array of songs you have in your arsenal is as razor-sharp, ravenous and ridiculously punishing as this, there’s good reason to feel that way. Latest single ‘Hex So Heavy’ is even more destructive in such dark surroundings, whilst the sensually savage one-two of ‘Necromancy’ and ‘HIEROPHANT’ makes the blood run cold as much as the heart skip a beat.

Every cold stare, bellowed scream, and shake of the hip Bambie executes is delivered with calloused confidence, ensnaring the senses of everyone who can now not take their eyes off them. Every second of this performance is as unapologetic and untethered as the last, pushing limits of sensuality as much as skin-crawling discomfort. From using one of their horned dancers as a footrest whilst the other caresses them, to the levels that their contorted choreography go to in terms of intimacy and intensity, taboo is a word that doesn’t exist here. It is raw, relentless and wonderfully freeing, all the things that truly potent art should be.

Though that’s not to say that there aren’t still some emotional chinks to be found in their pitch-black armour. For every ‘Bye Boy’, making you glad you aren’t the recipient of such a damning dressing down, and brilliantly raw ”Trash”, there’s a throbbing ”Last Summer (I know what you did)’ and head-mangling ‘Careless’, where the mask slips ever so slightly to reveal someone who still has heartbreak sitting heavily on their chest. And then, as the painful truth of what is happening in the world right now outside of this house of euphoria is brought into vital focus with a stirring ‘Children Should Be Laughing’, the humanity that holds Bambie Thug together shines through that little bit brighter.

There’s still plenty of ecstasy to be squeezed out of tonight, though. The gritty screams and glorious harmonies of ‘Egregore’ receive the most rapturous of singalongs, whilst the pummelling hardstyle break that closes the shimmering affirmations of ”Tsunami (11:11)” get the pit that has formed in the middle of the room nice and active. Closing out in style with a spine-tingling ‘Doomsday Blue’, the song that will be with them from here to eternity, all inhibitions are well and truly lost as bodies convulse and throats are shredded from front to back. A collective exorcism of feeling that clearly hits Bambie like a freight train, taking a second to soak it all in as that smile returns to their blackened lips once again.

It all makes for a performance that further stamps Bambie Thug as truly extraordinary. Building bridges between the fantastical and the ferocious, the hellish and the horny, the vicious and the vivid, and making it all look like second nature is a sight to behold. This array of songs they have collected over the last few years, filled with guttural anger, innermost disgust and headstrong conviction, being played at such a deafening volume and delivered in such a devilish and decadent manner, is the sort of spell that it is impossible not to fall under. With another major victory under their belt, and the possibilities of what is still to come feeling even more endless, this witch has already been crowned. Now, it’s a case of just how vast their empire is going to become.