By: Hannah Kelly for BANGS! Music & Entertainment
The End Is Here Tour, kicked
off with an electric first night on January 13, 2017, in Tempe,
Arizona. A mob of metal fans filled the crowded
Marquee Theatre on Friday night. Dead Girls Academy started off the
killer night promptly followed by Dangerkids. After Dangerkids left
the stage at the Marquee Theatre, the room was cast in purple light
in preparation for the first headliner of the night, Motionless In
White.
Before they began their
eleven song set, the lights in the theatre dimmed and two rows of
candles lit up on the Motionless In White stage set. Along with all
the illuminated candles, several small pumpkins also came to life.
After around twenty seconds of darkness in the room, the stage was
brightened by a white light, revealing a drum kit set high up on the
stage with a pumpkin adorning its drum-head. The drum-head made a
clear and clever connection to the pumpkins that were elsewhere on
the stage.
All of the members slowly
revealed themselves to the sea of fans, including the stand-in
keyboard player, Marie-Christine, who was brought in to replace
recent ex-member, Josh Balz (Balz officially left the band several
days before the tour began after 10 years with Motionless In White).
The band opened up with their single, “570”, off their upcoming
album, Graveyard Shift. With their amazing energy, they had the whole
crowd moving within moments of the first note played.
Ghost, who is notorious for
dressing up and being especially creepy, was in a Chucky-'esque
costume, complete with scars painted onto his face. The rest of the
band members were sporting a full face of pure white paint on their
faces as per usual. The white painted faces and black eye shadows are
a staple of any Motionless In White show. The band finished the
opening song of their set and with a smile on frontman Chris
Motionless’ face; they played straight into the second song of
their set, “America.”
It was at some point during
the first two songs that Kylie Devyn who is a part of the Motionless In
White stage performance, came out and joined the rest of the band
dressed as a provocative clown. Scantily clad in a short skirt,
fishnet stocking, and a crop top, she strutted around the stage
continuous engaging the crowd. Devyn brought out several props
during her time on the stage including a water gun that she
continuously shot out into the crowd and a jack-o-lantern shaped
candy bucket. Still, in her clown costume, which was changed several
times throughout the set, Devyn took the jack-o-lantern filled to the
brim with candy and preceded to shower it onto the crowd. This act
took place during the third song of the set, the band’s 2014
release, “Cocaine.”
The band spent the remainder
of their lengthy set playing a variety of older and newer songs,
including one cover and one completely new and never heard before
song off their upcoming album, that is expected to be released later
in 2017. Near the end of their set, Motionless In White performed an
unbelievable cover of System of a Down’s 2001 smash hit, “Chop
Suey!' This incredible cover had the entire room singing along and
off their feet the entire time.
Overall, Motionless In White
put on an energetic set that set the tone for the following headliners. Their set was an impressive eleven songs, and lead
vocalist Chris Motionless commented several times that Tempe, Arizona
was the best crowd they could have asked for to kick off this tour.
Each track had the crowd singing at the top of their lungs and
dancing to the music. As expected, there was no shortage of crowd
surfers during their show, but this, of course, is a staple of any
metal show.
Chris Motionless’ vocals
were completely unprecedented and he definitely was on his 'A' Game
for the first night of The End Is Here Tour. His performance was
untouchable, as was the rest of the band, as they played perfectly
while still engaging their captive audience.
Post the amazing first
headliner set done by Motionless In White, Issues bounded onto the
stage. Tyler Carter’s smooth vocals mashed with the harsh screaming
of Michael Bohn made for another unforgettable performance by the
Georgia based metal band. After the amazing set done by Issues, the
front headliner, Falling In Reverse, lead by a now blonde Ronnie
Radke, had the entire room shaking the moment that they hit the
stage. The Las Vegas natives put on a killer set to close out an
amazing night of music. It was truly an unforgettable evening of
unforgettable music done by an unforgettable line-up of musicians.
More Information on Motionless In White:
"570"