As we speak, there is a tour traversing the United States that brings with it an unrelenting torrent of explosive metalcore. I am talking about Motionless in White’s “Touring the End of the World Tour”. The first band of the night was an Australian metal band called Alphawolf. These dudes came out swinging. They hit that stage and cranked the energy up to eleven. I was loving their set from beginning to end. I was surprised at how full the venue was that early in the night, and because it was so full already Alphawolf had no problem getting a massive pit started, I’m not quite sure what was up with this crowd, but they were ready to rage from the very start. It was awesome! 

After Alphawolf took off we had an old-school favorite of mine from 2009/10, After the Burial. These dudes have always been a blast. I remember first seeing them live in 2015 when they opened for Asking Alexandria on the 10 Years of the Black tour. These guys are still bringing the heat to stages all across the world! They opened with their set with their song “In Flux” off their 2019 album Evergreen. After the Burial fit perfectly into this lineup. They cranked up the heat a little bit, they started the swell that brought on the crowd surfers, and really got the place jumping. They played a pretty quick set of only 6 songs which included some of their most popular songs like “Lost on the Static”, “Exit, Exist”, and “Collapse”. They closed out with the absolute rager “Behold the Crown”. I love the use of pinch harmonics in that song. I think it adds an almost old-school feel, almost Pantera-ish, because of Dimebag’s proclivity for that particular technique. It was great to see these dudes still out here tearing shit up and I’m glad they’re on this tour.

Up next is a band that has really gained some serious popularity within the last year or so. Knocked Loose played a set at Coachella in April of this year which put them on the map for a lot of people. This band is wildly off the fucking chain. The energy in that room was so high I’m surprised they were able to contain the crowd…oh that’s right! They couldn’t! There were so many people pouring over the barricades that security couldn’t even catch the crown surfers. People were spilling over the gates and landing on their heads and faces. I watched one guy get thrown off the top of the crowd and land directly on his face. He jumped up and gave a double thumbs up to me as he ran by…he must have had a hard head because that fall still makes me cringe. Knocked Loose is pure metal. From their hardcore, in-your-face sound, to their onstage energy, this band just sets it the fuck off like a nuclear bomb. I definitely loved when they played “Counting Worms”. The entire crowd screamed the only line of the song “I wrote a song about getting better. It’s a feeling I can’t remember.” They went absolutely wild for that song and I still get chills thinking about it. Knocked Loose played a badass set that consisted of 12 songs that left this crowd frenzied, and ready to have their chests ripped open and hearts bared for all to see…

Motionless in White is a band that truly touches the hearts and souls of their fans. They are inclusive, they go out of their way to spread love, and make sure that the people they’re making music for are feeling that connection. MIW has always put on an amazing show but this tour is bigger and better than ever. They came out in their face paint, Chris in a tactical vest, Justin in a lab coat-looking outfit that had straps with metal buckles to hold it together rather than standard buttons. Ryan came out in his signature half mask, and Ricky in a simple white face paint. This performance was far more than just a concert performance…this was over the top, and very theatrical. I have never seen so much fire, sparks, CO2 cannon, and crowd interaction at a MIW show. I feel like ever since they went on tour with Ice Nine Kills, they have really followed INK’s lead and put a LOT more into their production. I absolutely love that bands are doing this and it’s making these shows more spectacular than ever. Every single song of MIW’s set was accompanied by a new feature. Many of the songs featured accompanying performances by the Cherry Bombs, an all-female dance/performing arts group. They provided spark showers using grinders and belts with metal blocks on them. They came out and shot at the crowd with huge water guns. They had numerous costume changes ranging from fun to spooky, to sexy. These women put on a hell of a show and when you throw them in the mix with MIW it’s just a no-brainer. This show is an 11/10 across the board. The band went through many costume changes. Most notable was Chris’s change into the famous Werewolf jacket. During “Werewolf” the Cherry Bombs came out dressed as wolves and did a choreographed dance, just like in the music video. In fact, the music video played on the massive backdrop in the background during the song. They played a massive set of 17 songs spanning their entire discography, and the setlist varies slightly from show to show.

I want to save a lot of this show for you to go and experience. I don’t want to spoil it all…but I do want to say this: Motionless in White puts on one of the greatest shows in the music scene. It is not JUST about their performance. It is about their music and how it bleeds deep into the audience and brings about such an emotional upheaval of all that has been buried deep within us for so long. Emotions that we hide from the world in hopes that if we hide them, we will eventually just be “okay”. MIW is the exact reason that I love what I do. It’s why I love shooting concerts. I love music and I get emotional too. It’s a place of healing, cathartic release, visceral mental retribution, and an escape from the mundanity of everyday life. So much of what we experience in this modern hellscape is soul-sucking, to say the least. Work, toxic families, unhealed people carrying around trauma and willfully passing it onto others in feeble-minded attempts to make themselves feel better…concerts are where we can escape that shit. It’s where we can be ourselves, be surrounded by like-minded people, and find new friends to add to our circles and build chosen families of our own. I love what I do, and seeing others out there who get just as deeply lost in the beauty of it all and let their hearts run free is more rewarding than anything else. I urge you to go and see this band live if you ever have the chance…you will not be disappointed.