I am no stranger to heading out on a Tuesday night. I often go grab a bite to eat, see a movie, and then rock out at Frankies, but I must say I have never had night of metal-core mayhem, I mean come on its Tuesday, who is up for that kind of intensity. But that is exactly what I got as I hit up the Metro in Sydney for the first night of MOTIONLESS IN WHITE’s, Graveyard Shift Tour of Australia 2017.
There are way more people here than I was expecting, the floor is packed so I make my way into the stands to watch the action unfold for CROWN THE EMPIRE who are joining Motionless in White for all dates on the tour. This Texan four piece released an album last year (Retrograde) that caught my attention and I was looking forward to hearing some songs from the album live, they wasted no time in giving me and the fans what we wanted, opening with Zero.
Lead singer Andy Leo confesses he is lucky to be in the room after a mischievous trip to the hospital the night before as apparently he had eaten a bad brownie; but he was psyched to be here tonight and deliver what was a great show. If you don’t know this band’s sound let me tell you it is churning guitars mixed with slight electronic samples on top of screaming and harmonising vocals, all of which suit the Metro sound so well. I really loved hearing the new stuff Aftermath, Weight of the World and Hologram, all songs from the new album sounding great. Older tracks such as Memories of a Broken Heart and Johnny Ringo really going off, at one stage things came to a dead stop as a girl was lifted off the floor and pulled from the mosh pit, yea things were that intense in the music tonight. During this intermission, we showed as a room and a nation our affinity for the word ‘cunt’, with lead singer Leo leading us all in a unison shout out of the word and by the shows end he gave in to the crowds demands and did a shoey, wow what a warm up act that was.
This is Motionless in White’s first headline tour of Australia, they have been here before but that was on tours in support of such acts like Marilyn Manson and Korn. I have never seen these guys live so I wasn’t sure what to expect, the press release read ‘Candles, tattoos and distortion!’ Well two out of three aint bad. In place of candles there was an electrifying light show which was awesome to watch, metal just lends itself so fantastically to having a white light flash away to the pounding of the drums as a guitarist, or in this case two, stand in front of it and create an awesome silhouette of metal chaos.
The light show was just one thing that captivated me tonight. The towering presence of front man Chris Cerulli can be felt and seen from even how far back I am standing, man this guy just commands the stage and the band, well they deliver such a fast-paced exhilarating gut wrenching sound that just blew me and the crowd away, I still have a ringing in my ears. Every song tonight was met with a roar from the crowd from the first few notes of every song! Huge circle pits had bodies slamming everywhere, chaos was rife throughout the set, you had your ‘devil horns’ held high and the crowd participation was loud on every track.
The set list consisted of a lot of new material opening with LOUD (fuck it) and closing with Eternally Yours and in between we got a spot-on cover of System of a Downs Chop Suey plus other great Motionless in White Tracks like A-M-E-R-I-C-A and Dead as Fuck. For the encore, they said just one more and delivered the goods with Reincarnate, whipping the already frenzied crowd up even more so, just for the show to come to an end. The band thanks us ever so much for being present in the room tonight and being part of Motionless in White History.
Lead singer Chris ‘Motionless’ Cerulli had admitted earlier in the night to being more terrified with nerves than he has in any time over the course of the bands 11-year career because tonight he is blown away by how awesome the crowd has been and saying how patient Aussie fans are waiting all this time for a headline show. He closes out his thanks by saying how now is the right time to see them, and I couldn’t agree more.
This is a real blink and you will miss it tour so if you’re already a fan of the band and genre then you need no spurring on. You should get your ticket to what shows are still left and if for any reason, you are a fence sitter and can’t be bothered, then get off the fence and be bothered. I walked into the Metro tonight not fully sure if I would like it or not and walked out loving every minute of it, as my gorgeous European friend said to me tonight ‘these guys just play beautiful metal’.
Review – Chad
Motionless In White 2017 ‘The Graveyard Shift’ Australian Tour
Supported by Crown The Empire
Wednesday, 20th September
The Triffid, Brisbane (All Ages)
Tickets: Live Nation
Thursday, 21st September
The Gov, Adelaide (All Ages)
Tickets: Live Nation
Saturday, 23rd September
Arrow On Swanston, Melbourne (All Ages)
Tickets: Live Nation
Sunday, 24th September
170 Russell, Melbourne
Tickets: Live Nation