Sleep Token: Even In Arcadia Tour 2025. Portland, OR

Phantom Light Media
Oct 22, 2025
5 min read

Since their quiet debut in 2016, the anonymous British collective known as Sleep Token have captivated audiences around the globe with their eclectic blend of electronica and riff-heavy progressive metal that blurs genre definitions in a truly special way. They remained a relatively small presence in the scene until the beginning of the single release cycle for their third album, 2023’s Take Me Back to Eden. They’d been relatively popular before then, but this album sent them into the stratosphere. They sold out an entire North American tour in literal minutes, booked at venues capping at 2,000 attendees. They sold out an entire United Kingdom tour in hours, and then a Wembley Arena headline date in a further matter of minutes. Now, they’re headlining the biggest festivals in the metal scene and selling out arenas across the United States. Their last show in Portland was in 2023 at the Roseland Theater, less than a tenth the size of the colossal Moda Center headlining show that they announced for October of 2025. I had the privilege of attending the show and seeing firsthand how far they’ve come in just nine short years.

Sleep Token’s tours have usually only brought along a single supporting act in order to set the stage for their expansive and theatrical live sets. This time, after much speculation and hype, that act was revealed as Australian alt-metal darlings Thornhill, fresh off a series of North American and Australian headline shows in support of their third studio album BODIES. I know from personal experience that Portland hosts a strong contingent of Thornhill supporters, so I was not surprised at the thunderous applause and cheers that greeted Jacob Charlton and his bandmates as they burst onto the Moda Center stage with the ferocity and passion of seasoned arena performers. The band took advantage of these massive crowds to stuff their setlist full of tracks from BODIES, with eight of their ten-song set coming from that album. But they kept a couple surprises in store - a new song, “Mercia,” and an older crowd favorite, “Arkangel,” from 2019’s The Dark Pool. I heard plenty of surprised yet appreciative feedback from people around me commenting in particular about drummer Ben Maida, whose chops and technique seem to improve drastically every time I see the band perform. He really got to shine during the crunchy nu-metal inspired “under the knife” and “Revolver,” while guitarist Ethan McCann and bassist Nick Sjogren traded groove-laden grunge-inspired riffs that could’ve come straight from a 2010s MTV production across stellar single releases “Obsession” and set-closer “nerv.” It really warmed my heart seeing how well Thornhill were received by a crowd nearly 40 times larger than their last Portland show, a headlining performance at the Hawthorne Theater (which I was also fortunate enough to attend). My spirits therefore were quite high as the Thornhill banner disappeared and a plain black one rose in its place to the sound of gusting winds and ambient birdsong.

Sleep Token’s visual and stage crews are experts at curating a performance that feels at once both concert and narrative tale, and they really took things to the next level with the Even in Arcadia tour. The internet had been well abuzz with tales of the colossal cliffside caverns that would reveal themselves with the band in just a few minutes, the ever-present masked choir, and the absolutely jaw-dropping light cues accompanying the music. Yet even with all that advance knowledge, I was still blown away by what greeted my eyes as the lights faded around the arena and the droning synth intro to “Look to Windward” began. The band’s cryptic logo slowly was painted onto the black curtain with a laser projector as flower petal-shaped confetti was loosed from the lighting rigs, fluttering gently over the packed house. When the curtain dropped at the first explosive rhythm break of the song, the crowd went absolutely wild. Band members II, III, and IV were already present at their stations on the cliffside, as were the choristers high up to the left. Vessel soon made his entrance through a stylized temple door amid cascading laser projections and an onslaught of brilliant strobes. The band’s trademark blend of djent-heavy riffs and sparkling electronic ambience would take the audience on a two-hour journey through the entirety of their discography, with particular emphasis laid on their latest album Even in Arcadia. It’s impossible to choose a single high point of a set crafted with as much care and precision as this one was, but there were several truly spectacular moments that are stuck in my brain even days later - the live return of “The Offering,” the mesmerizing vertical patterns of the lighting rigs during “Hypnosis,” the onstage waterfall during “Rain,” and of course multiple appearances by the newly-added live saxophonist lovingly dubbed “VI” by the fanbase during “Emergence” and “Aqua Regia.” One of the biggest surprises though was definitely the re-addition of “Thread the Needle” to the setlist, off of their very first EP from 2016. The song’s iconic chorus revealed a plethora of longtime fans scattered throughout the arena, much to my delight and clearly to that of Vessel as well, who’d spent the entire show obviously having the time of his life. He and drummer II are the longstanding core members of the band and have contributed to all their releases, so I can only imagine the emotions that one must feel hearing a sold-out arena sing lyrics back at you from every single part of your band’s discography. As the monstrous closing breakdown to final song “Infinite Baths” pummeled the crowd into submission one last time, it really hit me just how far Sleep Token have come in such a short time. They’re quickly taking their place among modern metal’s upper echelon of truly enormous headlining acts, and it’s a stellar example of how one good release can spark an entire rise to dominance in just a matter of months. As the flower petals rained over the emptying arena, I was left truly awestruck once more by this enigmatic group, and I truly don’t know if I can stand the wait for their next Portland show.

Sleep Token setlist: