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After putting out a call on social media in April for a fan who was planning on following all of Sleep Token's then-upcoming U.S. tour, we were met with raised eyebrows, jokes and expressions of skepticism—all of which were totally understandable. After all, gathering such a huge haul of tickets would have seemingly required a hugely improbable blessing from the ticket gods, and then there were the logistical hurdles: the travel, lodging, time and stamina that would be required for such a feat.
And yet, the person we were looking for did exist after all. Just about. Enter our superfan Levi—such a superfan that just like the band, she's chosen to appear in this story under a pseudonym—who managed to score tickets to a staggering 16 shows on the band's 21-date run. In fact, numerous respondents got in touch who were planning on attending multiple dates of the band's Teeth of God tour. Looking at the astounding trajectory Sleep Token have traced over the last year and a half, maybe it shouldn't have been a surprise.
In that time, what started as a devout cult following has blossomed into a voracious, adoring community across the world—one that picks apart the dense web of lore spun through Sleep Token's songs and imagery and exchanges theories about the story they're trying to tell.
Every time Sleep Token perform one of their shows—better known as Rituals—diehards fawn over clips on social media for days, every grain of footage like a precious artifact. They imagine what personalities might be hidden beneath those masks. When drummer II gave an interview about the influences on his playing, fans latched onto everything from the cadence of his speech to his laugh to the way he expressively moved his hands as he spoke. They're also fiercely loyal. Any attempt to uncover the identities of the anonymous band is met with derision, seen as a mark of disrespect towards four musicians who conceal their everyday identities as part of their art.
Sleep Token have garnered a sterling reputation for their theatrical shows, the production value of which has soared as the band has ascended. Their light shows are flashier, spoken-word interludes are played between songs (the closest Sleep Token have ever come to between-song chat as frontman Vessel will not utter a word) and they now have masked backup singers, who fans lovingly referred to as the Vesselettes before their identities were revealed as the vocal trio Espera.
Is it any wonder, then, that there'd be such a demand to see Sleep Token live when they've inspired such devotion? In their home country of the U.K., they've got their first full arena tour booked for the end of the year and it sold out quicker than you can say "Chokehold"—and their U.S. leg has already seen them take steps into arenas, some big enough to hold 10,000 devotees.
How many of said devotees would go to the same lengths as Levi? She's setting off from her home in the South for three weeks on what is essentially a tour of her own alongside Sleep Token. She was one of an influx of fans who discovered the group through their viral smash "The Summoning," from 2023 breakout Take Me Back to Eden, while idly scrolling through Reddit one day—but it was only when she revisited the song a few months on from that initial discovery that the touchpaper was properly lit. She saw her first Ritual in New York in September 2023 and immediately caught the bug.
"Even watching it from the back of the room, from between heads, something about it was so attention-grabbing that I was like, 'You know what, I have to do this again, but next time I want to be able to see!'" she says. "So I did it again… and again… and again." She even made a whirlwind 24-hour trip to London in December to watch Sleep Token headline the iconic 12,000-capacity Wembley Arena.
The decision to follow the band on tour was made almost unconsciously. Initially, Levi and her friend Cass, who she met in line at another Sleep Token show, and their other friend Crystal, set out to get tickets for some of the larger gigs in iconic venues such as Red Rocks and Radio City Music Hall. But then the plan to go to those two shows ended up turning into something bigger. "Somehow, it just grew from there, where we were just like, 'Let's see how many tickets we can get,'" says Levi. "And here we are—I honestly can't remember how we got here." They bought tickets in dribs and drabs, some through the presales, some through general sale, and some through resales over a period of several months. "It's called refresh hell," she quips. "We'd sit there for the last four months, just