THE VIRGIN THEATER in LAS VEGAS
This was a highly anticipated tour that, lucky for us, made a stop in Vegas at the Virgin Theater. I got there an hour before doors opened, and there was already a line of a couple hundred fans of all ages eagerly awaiting the door time. I went inside and there was another hundred or so inside who took advantage of VIP that gave them early entry into the venue, and first chance at getting merchandise! After the doors opened it seemed the majority of fans also ran to the merch booth to score some tees.
ALPHA WOLF took he stage and delivered a powerful set that really made me wonder why hasn’t this band played in Vegas before? Why haven't I seen them? I LOVED them. Lead vocalist Lochie Keogh captures your attention and keeps you riveted, the band is solid and was a greta high energy start to the night. Alpha Wolf hail from Australia and have been around close to a decade, and released a new EP, Shh, earlier this year, thier first release since 2020's A Quiet Place to Die. Check ou the new music HERE.
American progressive metal band AFTER THE BURIAL followed next, these guys have been around for nearly 20 years already and are veterans of the metal scene. ATB was amazing and delivered an impressive, and possibly the hardest, performance on the night. For me the highlight of their show was getting to hear live “Behold the Crown” with its sick guitar sound. A band I highly recommend, After the Burial is good old fashioned in your face metal.
KNOCKED LOOSE brought the heavy and created enormous circle pits and brought general chaos to the show. KL is one of th heaviest metalcore bands around, and vocalist Bryan Garris knows exactly how to work a metal crowd. Bryan is all over the stage, then stops and stares out into the sea of fans, who are screaming and cheering for dear life. The band has receive d a bit of hype after knocking (see what I did there) Coachella out the park, and rumors of a project with Demi Lovato in the works. Hmmm..?
MOTIONLESS in WHITE, out with their biggest North American run yet this fall in support of their new deluxe edition of their 2022 album Scoring the end of the World, brought an absolutely insane stage production and a CRAZY show.
The show started with a brief video giving fans an insight into how the band prepared for this tour and what they do before each show. That started screams from the crowd, and it never stopped the entire show.
The stage setup was two levels, with the upper level for the drumkit and where four dancers would perform. Across the front were risers where the band members would stand, and a video screen across the front. A big set up, and MIW used every bit of it to dazzle the crowd.
The stage went dark, and with a huge roar Chris “Motionless” Cerulli, dressed in all black, with purple hair and what looked like a bullet proof vest, took his place at the center of the stage- left was Justin Morrow on bass and right was Ryan Sitkowski and Ricky “Horror” Olson on guitars. Behind on the second level was Vinny Mauro on drums, and the band fired into songs from 2022's Scoring the End of the World album, “Meltdown" and "Sign of Life”.
The insane stage show featured dancers with fire cannons, grinders shooting sparks all over the place, flames shooting up and across the stage, huge smoke cannons blasting huge smoke clouds into the crowd, and all the while you had MIW giving the packed venue their best performance ever. The energy was non-stop, the action never stopping. Lochie Keogh from Alpha Wolf joined MIW for a killer version of "Immaculate Misconceptions" as well as Byran Garris of Knocked Loose with "Slaughterhouse". MIW brought out Anthony Notarmaso from AfterThe Burial to sing "Reincarnate". The fans were wild.
There was a huge video screen the length of the stage, and after about 40 minutes the band told the crowd they were taking a commercial break haha. Fans watched the video screen play a hilarious zombie commercial before MIW returned and dug into “Werewolf” with Chris proclaiming “lets get some Halloween vibes going in this place”! After “You Were Never Enough”, the band played another video by itself, “Music to Me”, talking about what music means to them and how it affects their life. Near the end again MIW exited the stage and the lights went dark, video screen lit up with Chris and a zombie character doing a video call talking about the zombie's future and how the band would love him to continue doing what he does. The call ended and the band launched into “Not My Type”, Chris saying this was for all his goth friends out there.
The band closed out their show with “Scoring the End of the World” with videos, smoke cannons, dancers as they closed out another epic night. The dancers really made this show totally insane and we loved the visual aspect with the vidoes and stage pyro. Motionless in White has made a statement: they are contenders and are here to stay.
Motionless in White Photos : Harold Mountain / JustAFanPhotos
