If you weren’t at the Vogue Theatre last night, I genuinely feel for you. Health In Vancouver rolled back into the city for a sold-out show. This time bringing Carpenter Brut along for a double headline ride. Turning the whole night into something that felt less like a concert and more like a full-on event.
French synthwave maestro Franck Hueso and his crew were first up. Look, calling them a “warm-up act” almost feels disrespectful. If you know Carpenter Brut at all, you know what you’re signing up for, and if you don’t. Well, buckle in. Their sound pulls heavily from Justice more than their namesake John Carpenter. And anyone who made it out to Justice’s last Vancouver stop probably noticed some very familiar faces in the crowd. Coincidence? Absolutely not.
The set was 17 tracks deep and a good chunk of it was pulled from their brand new album Leather Temple. The final chapter in their Leather trilogy that started back in 2018. Eight songs from the new record made the cut. Including “Iron Sanctuary,” “Speed or Perish,” “Neon Requiem,” and “Major Threat.” The crowd ate it up. But nothing, and I mean nothing, compared to the finale. A robotic voice that sounded uncannily like Optimus Prime himself asked Vancouver if it was ready. Then they absolutely destroyed the room with a cover of “Maniac.” The pit lost its mind. By the time Brut walked off, Health fans were genuinely nervous about how the headliners were going to top that. They didn’t have to wait long to find out.
Health In Vancouver kicked things off with something traditional. Cruel Angel’s Thesis from Neon Genesis Evangelion, blasting through the speakers. The crowd sang along like they’d been waiting all week for exactly this moment. If you’re a Health fan, you already know about the whole Asuka and “Feliz Jueves” meme situation, so this was basically a love letter to the diehards, and it landed perfectly.
Then “Vibe Cop” hit and the room went absolutely feral. Jake, Johnny, and Benjamin came out swinging and did not let up for a single second. The stage setup was wild too, these cages of light backlit the band the whole night, so every time Johnny whipped his hair around it looked like a crack of lightning. Genuinely sick stuff. The last time I felt a room with this kind of raw energy was at Nine Inch Nails’ Peel It Back Tour, which actually makes a weird kind of sense given NIN’s influence on Health and the fact that they collaborated on “Isn’t Everyone” back in 2021. The alt-industrial DNA is there and the crowd absolutely felt it.
Banger after banger, no fillers, no weird lulls. Recent stuff from Rat Wars and Conflict kept newer fans in the zone. But, the real treat was hearing “Tears” from Max Payne 3 sneak into the mix. As a massive fan of that game and that track, I’ll be honest, everything else went quiet for a moment. Pure nostalgia hit me like a freight train. “Ashamed,” “Hateful,” and “Shred Envy” had security working overtime, as crowd surfers came in waves. Before the final stretch, Jake made a point to remind everyone that Health doesn’t do encores. So what you’re getting is what you get. And what they got was “DSM-V” sending the entire room into absolute orbit.
It became a full metal show by the end. Health In Vancouver energetic pulse was through the roof and it spread to everyone in the building. I could see the look on the venue staff’s faces, pure panic while the band looked like they were having the time of their lives. Fans from the upper levels weren’t staying in their spots anymore. It was that kind of performance.
When the lights finally came up, half the room was still catching their breath. People were laughing, buzzing, looking at each other like “did that just happen?” Walking out onto the street, the feeling was unanimous. When’s Health coming back? Because they absolutely need to.
I’d like to thank Health and their incredible team for allowing me to experience the show. If you’d like to catch a future tour date, please visit here: https://www.youwillloveeachother.com/
