MOTIONLESS IN WHITE/IN THIS MOMENT LIVE @ MOHEGAN SUN

By Kat Gullage

Motionless In White and In this Moment bring their Dark Horizons Tour to Mohegan Sun Arena.

I occasionally take my friend’s kid to concerts. About a month ago he begged me to go with him to see his favorite band, Motionless In White. He played some for me and I was like “meh” but I do love a good In This Moment performance so I put in a request to cover the show for AMP. When I got the “good to go” I let the kid know and he said something came up and he couldn’t go after all, but “Take Videos!”. Damn kids.

Headed to Mohegan on a hot summer Saturday night. There wasn’t a parking spot to be had in the Indian Summer lot. I found the last remaining opening which I was only able to snag cuz my car is small. I’ve visited the casino many times through the years and I’ve only seen this parking capacity once before, (and you’d never guess in a million years who performed on that night).

I picked up my stuff at will call. My credentials are always at the bottom so I’m holding my breath until they find it. As a writer, we’re considered press, and what we get differs depending on the venue but at Moheegs, reviewers get a ticket. Imagine my surprise when I got a ticket and a photo pass. I had seconds to determine “what to do?” As I pondered, the guy behind me was literally salivating over it and I think contemplated snatching it out of my hand. I slapped it on my shirt. I also assumed, due to the details on the pass, that it was for MIW only.

Not much of a crowd for Lancaster, PA’s From Ashes To New. Everyone was probably trying to figure out where the hell to park, but their loyal subjects were clamoring for them, pressed against the barrier buzzing with excitement. Danny Case (Lead Vocals), Matt Brandyberry (Vocals), Lance Dowdle (Guitar), Mat Madiro (Drums) and Jimmy Bennett (Guitar) laid down four tracks from their three studio albums and three songs from their upcoming release, Blackout (available 7/28).

I loved the dual singers although the lead vocals got muddy at times. The drums kinda overpowered everything a bit. They opened with “Nightmare” from Blackout. “My Fight”, “Hate Me Too”, “Heartache” and “My Name” followed. Danny addressed the crowd a coupla times, when he yelled “Put those hands up!” and like 99% of the pit did. From Ashes To New closed with “Panic” and “Through It All”. They really gave 1000% and ran around every inch of the stage to bond with their fans.

The crowd filled in more for Fit For A King from Tyler, Texas. Their diehard fans were ready, the anticipation was coming off them in waves. FFAK opened with a bang, like no foreplay whatsoever. Ryan Kirby (Vocals), Bobby Lynge (Guitar), Trey Celaya (Drums( and the very entertaining Ryan “Tuck” O’Leary (Bass) cranked out seven songs from three of their six studio albums.

They started out with the “End (The Other Side)”, “Vendetta”, “Breaking The Mirror”, “Price Of Agony”. Tuck plays guitar, provides backing metalcore growls but also does flying kicks and spins his bass around with precision – fun to watch. I’ll have what he’s having, just to get a fraction of that energy. The sound quality was good but I prefer the singing over the screaming. I do love how their songs start off with a Pow! They didn’t interact with the fans much, but when they did…..singer RK announced “This is the very first night of the Dark Horizons Tour, this show will set the tone, show me whatcha got!” The pit went wild and next thing ya know Tuck is getting hoisted up in the audience! Crowd surfing commenced. The set wrapped up with “When Everything Means Nothing” and “God of Fire”.

A white curtain emblazoned with the In This Moment spider logo separated the crowd from the arrival of sex metal goddess Maria Brink. After a too long intro with a prerecorded track and bouncing red lights, our rock and roll gypsy revealed herself. Chris Howorth (Guitar), Travis Johnson (Bass), Randy Weitzel (Guitar) and Kent Dimmel (Drums), played the live premiere of “The Purge”, a track from their upcoming eighth album. “How ya doin tonight Connecticut? Are you with me?” asks Maria in her throaty voice.

The short seven song set included tracks from three of their seven (soon to be eight) studio albums. There was already too much smoke mixed in with the pyro and strobes. It was hard to get a clear view of the band at all. “The In-Between”, “Adrenalize”, and “Blood” were up next. ITM’s theatrics kicked into high gear with Maria on a living throne made up of the Blood Dancers. Right when the smoke cleared Maria grabbed her big ass gun and shot smoke all over the pit.

“Sacrifice” was the second live debut. The arena filled in, not much moshing, some crowd surfing. Something about Maria’s presence gives us girls a confidence injection. I never get tired of ITM’s mesmerizing stagecraft. Each time Mother addresses the fans, she gets the response she demands. They’re rewarded with “Big Bad Wolf”. There is extended silence and darkness. It is broken with Brink singing “Connecticut, we can not hear you. Ladies and Gentlemen we need to feeeeeellllll you!” “What. Would. You. Like. To. Hear?”

The crowd yells “Whore”! “What did you say to me?” She sets up on the top of her towering podium sporting her infamous Whore dunce cap. “Can I hear my sisters?” They deliver the closer and their grateful fans all sway their arms. Large red and black balloons with ITM logos on them drop from the ceiling, a fun and interactive visual. Red and white confetti shoot out of huge cannons. Powerful performance, good clear sound, band was great. I would’ve liked to hear “I Would Die For You” from John Wick 4. Hope they add it to their live set.

I know where the photo pass people wait to be escorted up front, so I boogied over there, merged in with them like I belonged. As everyone readied their equipment I plugged my phone into a power bank in my back pocket and put my hair up in a ponytail like I was going into battle or cardio kick box class. A couple of minutes before we would be escorted, two or three of the photogs were whispering to each other and giving me the side eye. I stood there confident and giving zero fucks. I would’ve
happily explained my purpose to anyone who asked.

The photo/press pit is in between the crowd barrier and the stage. I absolutely 100% did not want to interfere with anyone else’s job so I parked myself on the left side of the stage, out of the way. White curtain up for Motionless In White. Crew running around locking the set down. Those mofos work their asses off. Mohegan staff also does a great job. I swear they can smell possible trouble and pounce on it.

The arena is packed, from the upper level to the fans jammed against the barrier, one of which was still clinging to their ITM balloon. In between the barrier and the stage the floor is carpeted with ITM confetti. Really cool mike stand! There’s some hot girl in a VIP section up front giving me side eye. Not sure if she’s into me or wondering how the hell I’m closer to the stage than she was.

There’s already someone on someone else’s shoulders in the pit. Some girl behind me let out a primal scream. They test the white strobe lights, holy shit, seizure alert! Motionless In White gets on stage very chill. They give a speech and start playing before the curtain drops. “Are you fucking ready? To bang your fucking brain? We are called Motionless In White and we’re going to kick your fucking ass!”

“Signs Of Life” starts and the curtain finally drops. The crowd loses their shit, immediate pit and peeps in seats are up and dancing and singing. Kudos to the sound tech, sounds great up here. I did not have high expectations for this gig but I was immediately blown away. They sounded great and the fans’ response to them was infectious. “Necessary Evil” had me noting the whimsical sampling of Lesley Gore’s “It’s My Party”. I look up from journaling and Chris “Motionless” Cerulli is ten feet away from me basically serenading me.

That was so fucking cool. The fire shooting cannons go off and damn you can really feel the heat up there. Not so much as a scorched strand though, shout out to the pyro team! Chris speaks to the crowd, “Let me see your hands up right fucking now!” He eggs the fans on, gets 99% participation. “You seeing this shit?” he asks Justin Morrow (Bass), who is the only one sporting makeup tonight. “Thank you, thank you, thank you. Today is a very special day, first show of the tour this year, pretty impossible to beat!” “

“</cOde>” is up next. The band moves around, Chris covers every inch of the front making sure he interacts with as many fans as possible. They don’t jump around though. No jumps or kicks or anything except running back and forth. Maybe add some risers so they can run up and down? Regardless, the sound is superb, the MIW devotees are loving it, and it’s a fun show.

The fourteen song set continues with “Soft”, “Headache” and “Werewolf”. Photo/Press can only be up front for a limited amount of time, so I exited at that point but took a sharp left and disappeared into the pit to cover the rest of the show. All of a sudden “We’re gonna cut the lights hang on.” The lights go down and there’s a pause that goes on for an eternity. Fans are confused, but still excited, chanting “MIW!” Chris comes back “Check, check, check. Can you hear me? I think this place is fucking haunted”. He demands a circle pit “Let’s Go!” and gets it on demand.

Chris, Justin, Ryan Sitkowski (Guitar), Ricky “Horror” Olson (Guitar) and Vinny Mauro (Drums) feed us “Brand New Numb”, “Masterpiece”, “Break The Cycle”, “Voices” and “Synthetic Love”. Guitarist does standard solo. Pit moves way more than the band does. “Can we do a coupla more songs for you? Three songs left. Jump up and down together, get that energy back!” Fans jump for intro only, pit fires up again.

“Reincarnate” (“I’ve swallowed your bullshit, no regret, you make me fucking sick!) Chris yells “Get your hands in the air!” 90% do. “Make some fucking noise!” (need a new twist on that comment, he says it alot) “Put those cell phones & lighters (thank you for including lighters!) in the air. Fucking beautiful!” Set ends with “Another Life”, “Eternally Yours” and an explosion of white confetti.

A new Motionless In White fan was born that night. I love Chris’s vocal range and power. I prefer the more melodious stuff to their pure metalcore beginnings. They keep the energy up the whole show and their fans ate that shit up. I would definitely recommend.

Shout out to Mohegan Sun, gotta love a venue where you can safely catch a kick ass show and then bet on the Bengals to make it to the Super Bowl LVIII.

Thank you, faithful readers!

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