By Kyle Brown
On a rather warm fall October 24th, metalcore fans of all ages swarmed into The Fillmore in Detroit, Michigan for a much anticipated tour with headliners, Motionless In White. The tour is the final installment of Motionless’ latest album, Scoring The End Of The World, as the band recently announced after this tour, they will take a break and begin working on new material.
Up first was Alpha Wolf, a band from Australia, who knew how to throw down and get a metal concert going. Alpha Wolf made the best of their 30 minute set. With heavy drums, guitar riffs and lyrics, a venue that was probably 3/4 full, was able to begin crowd surfing and moshing right from the start. Alpha Wolf took notice to that, showing gratitude by thanking everyone for coming out early and that meant the world to them. The band was a perfect choice as an opener.
Traveling from Australia to the United States, we landed at the next band from Minneapolis, Minnesota. After the Burial came on to a huge applause and immediately asked the crowd for crowd surfing, circle pits, and all out moshing. In what was probably the only few moments for their set that was not straight metal music, the band made sure to say happy birthday to a crew member. After the Burial had the crowd cheer and say happy birthday to him after bringing him on stage, which was thunderous in noise with metalcore fans at the helm. With powerhouse vocals and constant energy stemming from both the band and crowd, their set we then traveled to Kentucky to meet the next band on the lineup.
When Knocked Loose hit the stage, everyone in the building was prepared for what was to come. The five piece band began to play and at the moment of the very first drum beat, all hell broke loose in the pit. Crowd surfing, moshing, and hands in the air were seen all while Bryan Garris screamed and sang his way through the set. Fans in attendance were just as loud, if not louder, saying every word back at the band. Security had their hands full, with wave after wave of people surfing into the photo pit from start to finish.
Fans buckled in their seatbelts for the ride that was about to give the crowd a quick tour of the rest of the world when Motionless In White finally hit the stage. What started with a video diary of pre-tour preparations, led into a 30 second countdown on the video screen. Smoke began filling the stage once the clock hit zero, and the band came on to stage.
Lead vocalist, Chris Motionless, came out with his new signature look, purple hair. Motionless fans know he dyed his hair purple for their newly released music video, Sign of Life. Many fans also made comparisons to the style of the late Chester Bennington, from Linkin Park.
The band made sure to mention and hype up this tour when they were prepping for it, saying they wanted to go all out. They made true on their promise. They brought along the Cherry Bombs, who are in the “Werewolf” music video. The dancers would periodically make their way onto stage with masks and shooting sparks that added another dimension to the performances. Smoke was quick to shoot out at various areas and engulf the entire stage. The outfit changes the band had, and the comedic aspect with a “paid” commercial during a short break for the band all made the set one that you couldn’t take your eyes off of.
Musically, the band sounded amazing. Chris’ vocals were on point, and somehow, some way, the ever so famous “Blegh” sounded better live than on the studio album! Out of high fan demand over the past few years, the band brought some of their newer songs as well as old ones. As every band before, crowd surfing, head banging, and moshing were non-stop occurrences the entire set. One of the things I liked best was how Motionless In White was able to invite the lead vocalists of each band before them onto the stage to sing one song with them. It made it feel like the they were a family, and in return, made the fans and bands feel like one big family as well.
The night ended with none other than the title track of their latest album, Scouring The End Of The World. To a huge ovation, the band did a curtain call and proceeded to leave the stage as fans filed out of the venue. The tour of the end of the world had come to a close, and Detroit survived the event.
Check out some of the images we captured below!
Pittsburgh Music Magazine 