Motionless in White destroys Lexington’s Manchester Music Hall with Every Time I Die and Like Moths to Flames
When Motionless in White announced their Graveyard Shift Tour stop in Lexington back in December, many metallers drew a big circle around today’s date on their calendars. Well ahead of the doors opening the massive crowd stretched so far down the road that you couldn’t actually see the end of the line, many excitedly talking about seeing MIW again and hoping for their favorite songs to be played. The last time Motionless in White played in the Commonwealth of Kentucky was the main stage at the 2016 Louder Than Life Festival, making tonight’s performance their first ever headline show in the state.
The stage is adorned with skeletons, a cemetery-type gate, winged angel statues, and illuminated Jack-O-Lanterns with Vinny Mauro’s towering drum kit serving as the centerpiece of this goth diorama. With deep purple lights completely engulfing the stage Motionless In White (MIW) opens the show with “Rats” and their hit song “Reincarnate” igniting a crowd that was ready to explode.
Pausing only briefly to let everyone catch their breath, Chris “Motionless” Cerulli takes a quick moment to address the crowd “This is our first time headlining a show in Kentucky. Look at all the people who showed up! You wonder what took us so long, let’s have a blast tonight” as they launch into fan favorites “Loud (Fuck It)” followed immediately by “Necessary Evil” and the night is off to a blazing start.
Ice Nine Kills singer Spencer Charnas jumps on stage to join Chris and the guys to sing a scorching rendition of “Abigail” which the crowd clearly loves. Without missing a beat, MIW tear into the anthem-like “A-M-E-R-I-C-A” ending the song with numerous chants of “USA” from the fans filling the venue. On stage, Chris “Motionless”, guitarists Ryan Sitkowski and Ricky “Horror” Olson, bassist Devin “Ghost” Sola, and drummer Vinny Mauro are clearly having a great time, constantly smiling and interacting with the fans close to the barrier.
Now well into their set, a rocking series of songs including “Queen for Queen,” “Dead as Fuck,” “Dead As Fuck 2”, “Break the Cycle” and “Immaculate Misconception” all come firing from the stage in rapid succession. It is always something incredible when so many fans in the crowd raise their voices to finish off the verses of the songs, which seems to be the norm tonight.
Chris, standing once again at center stage, addresses the crowd, “We have had an amazing night. 2 nights in a row we have made history (last night in Columbus, OH where they played to their largest crowd of the tour). Thank you for being so nice to us. See you all on the Warped Tour!” Motionless in White then finish off their set with “Devils Night” and their encore song, “Eternally Yours”, closing the door on a memorable night and performance.
Providing the main support this evening are Buffalo-based metalcore pioneers Every Time I Die (ETID). There is no intro tape or build up for ETID. As soon as the stage was ready, the house lights drop and the guys blast on stage, directly into their opening songs “Decayin’ With the Boys,” and “We’rewolf”. It’s not long before the moshing and crowd surfing starts and keeps going strong all set long while the guys rolled through their discography including mainstays “The Coin Has a Say,” and “Underwater Bimbos from Outer Space”.
While you know you are going to get a high energy and super intense live show from Every Time I Die, it is great seeing the continuous interaction with the fans and the crowd surfers as frontman Keith Buckley is off the stage and at the barrier more than once during the set.
Touring in support of their recent album Dark Divine, Columbus Ohio based metalcore group Like Moths to Flames opens the evening in a great way. Joining the tour at the last minute, after Chelsea Grin had to drop out just before the tour started, Like Moths To Flames deliver a hard rocking set drawing from several new songs from the Dark Devine album including “New Plagues,” “Nowhere Left To Sink,” and “Dark Divine”
Ice Nine Kills are unable to perform tonight in Lexington after their drummer, Conor Sullivan was taken to a local hospital with a severe case of the flu. It is great to see each group give shout-outs to Conor and Ice Nine Kills during their sets.
