Whether it’s Halloween or Valentine’s day, there’s no better way than to spend it with Motionless In White. This Friday night, February 14th, the band came back to Poppodium 013 in Tilburg for their ‘Touring The End Of The World’ tour. The last time they stood on this stage was as support for Beartooth in 2023. Now two years later, they sold out the venue for themselves. Alongside, they brought Brand of Sacrifice and Fit For A King. Due to traffic I did not make it to the venue in time to see Brand of Sacrifice, but the venue was already packed upon arrival. Lots of fans were eager to show up early to watch the band from Toronto, Canada.
At 7.45 PM the lights dimmed down, indicating it was time for Fit For A King to make their way to the stage. It’s always a bit funny when bands don’t fully comprehend which city they are in, whether it’s completely calling it the wrong one or, in the case of this show, vocalist Ryan Kirby renaming the city ‘Tilsburg’ for the evening. The energy on stage was amazing and the attention mostly went to bassist Ryan O’Leary, who was spinning and jumping all around the stage. The first crowd surfers showed up during the fourth song in their set: ‘End (The Other Side)’. Kirby was great at interacting with the crowd, dedicating most songs to either the people in the crowd or to Brand Of Sacrifice who played before them. “This song goes out to all the crowd surfers so far, I think we have some singers too so sing this next one with us” is how Kirby introduced the song ‘Keeping Secrets’. The most crowd surfers came up during the last song of their set, which was ‘God of Fire’. The crowd jumped along some more, getting properly warmed up for Motionless In White.
While we might have been at a metal show, ‘Sandstorm’ by Darude blasted through the speakers right before Motionless In White came onto the stage. For this tour the band brought Cherry Bombs along on stage -four girls who added an extra layer to the concert- turning it into a whole new experience. The back of the stage was raised with a platform where drummer Vinny Mauro sat behind his drums in the middle and space on either side for Justin Morrow, Ryan Sitkowski, Ricky Olson or Cherry Bombs to come up. The evening started with the song ‘Meltdown’, for which Cherry Bombs put on a show with fire props and dancing in the background. Right from the first note the crowd was singing along as loud as they could, enjoying every second of the experience. For the second song of the evening, ‘Sign of Life’, Cherry Bombs came back, this time in a futuristic suit with a metal belt and a grinder, creating sparks of fire that went flying around the stage, creating a special atmosphere.
When vocalist Chris ‘Motionless’ Cerulli asked the crowd if they were there when they last played in this venue with Beartooth or saw them at their headline shows in Amsterdam last summer, most of the crowd happily cheered, confirming the band had mighty fans dedicated to show up to enjoy their shows. The band walked off stage while the intro of the song ‘Masterpiece’ played over the speakers. Cerulli’s iconic flowery mic stand stood center stage, starting the song with just him and Sitkowski.
Near the end of ‘Voices’ Cerulli got a pride flag from someone in the front row and held it for the remainder of the song. When the track ended, the stage lit up in a rainbow, causing enthusiastic screams from the crowd. Someone in the pit was holding up a blow-up female doll, which caught the band’s attention. At one point the doll popped, becoming the first death the band has had at one of their shows. Up next was ‘Slaughterhouse’, a song originally featuring Bryan Garris from Knocked Loose. Ryan Kirby from Fit For A King took the role on this tour, coming back to the stage to sing Garris’ parts. On this tour they had also been doing a surprise song each night, as a way to make every city feel special and unlike the others. Today they picked ‘Porcelain’, which made the crowd scream loudly; especially when Olson’s part came up, since the fans love when he gets to sing.
For the encore, Cerulli stood on stage and tried to start his usual speech about the last song of the evening. The crowd, being long time fans, already knew what he was about to say and started yelling a mixture of no’s and booing. “You don’t even know what I’m going to say!” is what Cerulli replied followed by “Yes, yes you do”. He then quickly walked to the side of the stage to discuss something and came back shortly, announcing that due to Valentine’s Day we would get an extra song: ‘Necessary Evil’. This was the only other song they had rehearsed and it was originally planned to be played for the first time in Cologne a day later. The crowd was very pleased with this outcome and went wild during the song. “We will see you at the festivals, until then, we are Motionless In White and we are eternally yours” said Cerulli before kicking into the closing song of the evening: ‘Eternally Yours’
This concert was definitely unlike any others. The charm of Cherry Bombs, which gave some people in the crowd a serious case of bi-panic, was an amazing addition to the show. With songs about rats, werewolves and zombies the Halloween vibes were in full swing, but the Valentine’s love was also still felt with songs like ‘Masterpiece’, ‘Another Life’ and ‘Eternally Yours’. The band played their hearts out, as they always do, and seeing them live should definitely be on top of your list.
