American Metalcore band, Motionless In White embark on their first ever UK arena tour hitting one of the biggest arenas in the country, Manchester’s AO Arena. With a fully sold out show the place was packed with queues going around the venue before doors opened to catch support sets from Make Them Suffer and Dayseeker.
Make Them Suffer take to the stage, despite being the opening act most would think they wouldn’t pull that much of a crowd being on first, however this couldn’t be far from the truth with the room quickly filling up and the crowd going nuts as the band walks onto the stage.
Compared to the other support band, Dayseeker, Make Them Suffer lean more towards the heavier side of metalcore which with both bands being part of the night it really makes them both perfect for Motionless In White. The vocals of Alex Reade are pristine and perfectly complements the harshness of Sean Harmais in a magical way. Alex was having the time of her life during this set on her keyboard setup, non-stop headbanging. She really brought the energy to this set which blended in perfectly well with the crowd, she got the energy in that room bouncing! Make Them Suffer are no strangers to the Mancunian crowd, having been here many times in previous years it’s like they have entered back into another home of theirs with how comfortable they are with the crowd and knowing exactly how to work with them. All seven songs of the set list were performed effortlessly with gusto and you know for a fact that they will claim the top of the bill in a room like this before anyone in this room knows it.
Setlist:
- Ghost of Me
- Bones
- Epitaph
- Mana God
- Oscillator
- Erase Me
- Doomswitch
Dayseeker being the second support for this tour was probably the best case scenario with them still being classed as up and coming in the music scene, they have recently taken the world by storm with their latest album Creature In The Black Night, especially with songs like Pale Moonlight and Crawl Back To My Coffin being viral sensations at the moment online. Dayseeker are known for their soft meaningful lyrics with a hint of aggression thrown into their songs. The band started off strong with Pale Moonlight with it being their most viral song at the minute this wasn’t a surprise and a smart move to get the crowd going and moving, setting the tune for the rest of the set. Vocalist Rory Rodriguez, who has been very open with his mental health struggles, one of which being anxiety stayed a bit further back from the crowd with little movement, however that shouldn’t be a problem with a Dayseeker set with his vocals being the forefront of the entire set and what people come for. The vocals of this band are so much more than their stage presence the demand for the isolated vocals of their songs has been insane lately. The way he carries his voice is nothing short of phenomenal with the effortless change in notes being noticeable and impressive. You can tell from the crowd that they weren’t just there for Motionless In White because the room got insanely more crowded during Dayseeker’s set, in fact you could see the swarm of people approaching the standing area and their seats as the band was about to come on / when their intro was playing. This isn’t just a big moment for Motionless but for the support bands as well, bar festivals this would’ve been the biggest set of their career. There isn’t a doubt in my mind that Dayseeker won’t gain a wider fandom after this tour, their next UK headline tour will either immediately go to a bigger venue or will be in such high demand they will have no choice but to upgrade the venue more than one.
Setlist:
- Pale Moonlight
- Shapeshift
- Burial Plot
- Crawl Back to My Coffin
- Bloodlust
- Without Me
- Crying While You’re Dancing
- Creature in the Black Night
- Sleeptalk
- Neon Grave
Motionless In White who during their last UK headline tour played Victoria Warehouse to a sold out crowd in Manchester are now taking to the stage at the AO Arena. For myself personally I last saw these guys on their headline tour back in 2019 in the O2 Ritz which was such an insane night this was another level seeing them get to this scale. Whilst the performance was phenomenal throughout the set, Showsec employees massively let down the experience in the photopit, from disrespect to zero communication on pyro which was a massive safety concern.
Motionless decided to have some fun on this tour and show their goofy side a lot, if you’re on the internet as much as most you would’ve been introduced at some point to ‘Brain Rot cat’ aka the weird animated cat that spins in a circle with a dubbed cat noise turned into a song playing over the video, well this brain rot cat was displayed on the screen as the bands intro with tumblr esc styled galaxy backgrounds behind it, if you know you know. The band’s logo was displayed and they made their way to the stage decorated in black body paint and various different stage outfits giving each member their own unique character. Vocalist Chris Motionless walks in, in skinny jeans and a The Cure band vest with his tattooed arms covered in body paint and heavy black makeup. They open the set with a song from their previous album Scoring The World Of The World , with Meltdown and Signs of Life. Were only one song into the set and already the theatrics are incredible, we have dancers from the legendary dance group The Cherry Bombs, famously created by Alicia Taylor all in full covered suits with steam punk esc accessories all holding chainsaws to create amazing sparkles that lit up the stage and the atmosphere even more than it already was. As someone who has been following the Cherry Bombs for a number of years this was an added bonus to be able to see them perform live.
Chris was nothing short of incredible throughout the set, he made his way around that stage and catwalk with confidence and had no faults in his vocals, the man kills it every single time. Visually the entire production was on another scale, with pyro going off left, right and centre with The Cherry Bombs just adding to that fire with how they moved around Chris and the rest of the band was just absolutely amazing. The setlist was perfect, I know some people could argue that more of their older tracks could’ve been added into the mix, one I was not expecting at all was A.M.E.R.I.C.A, a song all about the problems with the American system from their Devils’ Night album which is actually the album that brought the band to my attention in the first place.
The whole set was filled with past favourites and brand new songs including Afraid of the Dark making its debut on this tour! Motionless In White never fail with delivering highs and lows in their work, songs that want to get you jumping and headbanging none stop waiting for the iconic “BLEUGH” from Chris to being in floods of tears when they get to Another Life, ending on a high the band ended their set with Another Life and Eternally Yours, two romantic gut-wrenching songs that always tug on our heart strings, showing just how romantic goths truly are.
Setlist:
- Meltdown
- Sign of Life
- A.M.E.R.I.C.A
- Thoughts & Prayers
- Voices
- Afraid of the Dark
- Werewolf
- Cyberhex
- Disguise
- Necessary Evil
- Slaughterhouse
- Rats
- Nothing Ever After
- Scoring the End of the World
- City Lights
- Not My Type: Dead as Fuck x2
- Soft
- Hollow Points
- Another Life
- Eternally Yours
Images: Lauren Allard
Words: Lauren Allard & Jacob Robinson
