Tues Sept 13th - Taking over The Rave / Eagles Ballroom Tuesday night would be this year's extremely popular Trinity of Terror tour. The triple headline tour, featuring three of the biggest names in hard rock/metal: Motionless In White, Ice Nine Kills, and Black Veil Brides, is currently in its second leg after a successful first run including sold out shows. The tour has been so successful that a third leg has been added! Crown The Empire was scheduled to open the second leg of the tour, however they were replaced by none other than We Came As Romans. The massive 180,00 sq ft The Rave / Eagles Ballroom venue, built between 1925 and 1927, is home to 8 performance spaces throughout the structure, with tonight's show taking place in the The Eagles Ballroom, which is known as the venue's most coveted performance space. The ballroom, which has a 25,000 square foot dance floor, is surrounded by an elegantly designed balcony that wraps around the entire domed ceiling and features intricate trim and eagle sculptures throughout the room design. The ballroom seats approximately 3,500 people and would require all of its available space for this massive trifecta headline tour.
The night would begin with Grand Rapids natives We Came As Romans. Fresh off the Through The Thorns tour with August Burns Red, the band was a last-minute replacement for Crown The Empire on the second leg of the tour. Always a welcome addition to any lineup, in my opinion, the band would get the night started with their heater "Darkbloom", which will be the title track off their latest upcoming album due out Oct 14th. The song is an excellent choice to start a performance due to its high intensity and ability to engage the crowd with a chorus of "whoa's". They would keep the pace high following up with the circle pit inducing "Wasted Age" and another of their new fiery tracks in "Daggers", also going to be off the aforementioned Darkbloom album. Having just seen them perform in The Rave portion of the venue just a few weeks ago on the Through The Thorns Tour, the band sounded just as crisp this time around, but getting to fire up a much larger audience than the last time in town. They'd round out their set with "Plague," "Cold Like War," and "Lost In The Moment," before concluding with "Black Hole."
Black Veil Brides would be the first of the Trinity to take the stage. With an abundance of BVB t-shirts and styled apparel, including bridal gowns, throughout the crowd, it was clear that a large portion of the fans had come for the band. With the lights dropping and smoke machines beginning to flood the stage, the band would begin to walk out to their opener "The Phantom Tomorrow (Intro)," creating quite the ambiance and buildup among the crowd before ripping into a throwback track with "Faithless" off their 2014 self-titled album and following with "Coffin", "Crimson Skies", "Shadows Die", "Wake Up", and their hit "Scarlett Cross". Wearing a snazzy suit jacket with matching pants and shirtless underneath, vocalist Andy Black would deliver quite an impressive vocal performance with his signature flawless cleans while mixing in some very well projected screams that seem to come naturally to him. I admittedly haven't seen the band in quite some time, and I have to say that after that impressive high energy performance, I'll have to make an effort to catch them again soon. With a new album "The Mourning" due out on October 22nd, I imagine we won't have to wait long for a set of new dates as I expect a tour cycle to begin shortly after, so keep an eye out for an announcement! In the meantime stream their first single off the album titled "Saviour II" and watch the video here! They would maintain their hold on the large crowd as they finished off the 11-song set with "Born Again," "Knives & Pens," "The Legacy," and "Fallen Angels" before closing with "In The End" and leaving the stage to an ovation of applause.
Motionless In White would be the second member of the Trinity to perform for the evening. A band I've followed since the "When Love Met Destruction Days" ("Billy In 4C Never Saw It Coming" is an all-time favorite), it's been incredible to watch the band grow over the years and achieve the massive success they've had thus far. With even more smoke pumping on the stage and the beginning eerie music box intro of "Disguise" increasingly getting louder, the band would come out firing leading off with the title track that is sure to get any crowd riled up. They'd follow up with "Sign Of Life," a newer track from their latest highly successful album "Scoring The End Of The World," which peaked at #1 on the Billboard US Top Hard Rock Albums and #2 on the Billboard Top Rock Albums! The performance would continue with a definite crowd engager "Brand New Numb," however about a quarter of the way through, one member of the audience became a little too engaged and decided to escalate problems among various other crowd members, catching Chris's attention and prompting him to cut the music and turn on the lights to check on the fans calling for help. Chris then stated that he does not want any assholes at their show and let security handle the situation while he checked to ensure that everyone in attendance was okay while encouraging fans to respect each other and take a step back to allow the fans on the barricade to get some relief from the surges forward. Once it was determined that everyone was safe, they would cut the rest of "Brand New Numb" and resume the show with "Voices," followed by one of their newest face melters "Slaughterhouse" and a clear fan favorite "Masterpiece," with the audience singing along throughout. The rest of the 11-song set included a personal favorite track from the new album "Cyberhex," as well as the title track, "STEOTW," and "Another Life" before breaking out their cover of the classic Killers song "Somebody Told Me" and finishing with "Eternally Yours." Once their set was finished, you could see how popular the band has become because about a quarter of the audience would leave before Ice Nine Kills took the stage, which is a testament to just how popular the band has become but also sad to see the community leave early and not support all of the bands on the bill.
Metal horror masters Ice Nine Kills would then round out the evening's Trinity. INK, in my opinion, has mastered the art of theatrical performances by combining an array of stage props, costumes, well-timed smoke cannons, and even stage actors to create a one-of-a-kind experience that you must see to fully appreciate. The band would take the stage to the intro track "Opening Night" from their latest record "The Silver Scream 2: Welcome To Horrorwood," which led directly into the title track, causing the crowd to erupt into jumps and the venue to begin singing along. The set would keep the pace going with "Wurst Vacation," "Hip To Be Scared," and "Assault & Batteries" as the crowd sang along track after track, proving that even though some had left, INK still has a loyal fan base of its own. Having seen the band numerous times over the years, from Warped Tour to headline shows, the band sounds as good as they ever have, sounding damn near studio quality. The set would continue with "Stabbing In The Dark," "Rainy Day," and "IT Is The End" before causing even more chaos in the pit with "The Box." Track after track the band, as well as the others who played before them, proved why they're some of the biggest names at the top of the rock/metal world right now. Continuing their horror assault on the audience featuring some intense stage acting throughout from extras dressed in an array of masks and costumes wielding weapons from hammers, butcher knifes, drill and even a chainsaw, they would pick up with "Ex Mortis", "The Shower Scene", (which recently got a killer new video), "Funeral Derangements" and ending the night with one of my favorites "The American Nightmare" giving the crowd one last opportunity to sing along and cause chaos in the pit.
With the second leg of the tour wrapping up, fans still have a few opportunities to catch a remaining date or catch all these A-list bands on the third leg, which will include Atreyu as the opening act support, and will begin on Halloween as a treat for all the fans in El Paso, TX, and it will run through December 12th, so check the dates and grab your tickets here! This is a tour that you DO NOT want to miss out on!
*Updated Periodically
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