Last night, the Devil Wears Prada, playing as part of a multi-band bill at the Agora, stole the night in the technical and sound category while co-headliners Motionless In White took home the crown for most interesting performance. You can see a slideshow of photos from the concert here.
Motionless In White, the band to end the night, isn’t for everyone and the same goes for its live shows. The band does all it can to put on a spectacle, really awing the crowd and building a unique atmosphere. The band appeared in Halloween masks on a stage covered with Halloween decorations. Keyboardist Josh Balz spent the entire performance on a riser that spun him and hoisted him into the air. Everything about the performance seemed to focus on the visuals. While the execution wasn't bad, nothing musical stood out. At one point the Halloween theme was thrown into the mix as an interlude and a headless horsemen was brought out onto stage during “Undead Ahead.”
It’s almost impossible to hear Motionless In White's lead singer Chris “Motionless” Cerulli and not compare him to Marilyn Manson. This isn't a bad thing either. In songs like “A-M-E-R-I-C-A” and “Reincarnate” Cerulli's inner Manson shone bright as he sounded like a clone of him.
One other memorable aspect of Motionless In White's set was its seemingly random cover of Linkin Park’s “One Step Closer.” Surprisingly, the song kept its rock feel but added a metal twist.
While Motionless In White put on a good show, it was The Devil Wears Prada that held the highlight of the night. It's hard for the band not to outshine any band with which it shares the stage.
There's just something about the Devil Wears Prada's shows that is unlike another other band. Whether it’s their light show which fits so well into their music and showman style or their ability to sound so tight and perfect with every performance. The Devil Wears Prada is one of, if not the best, live bands in the scene right now and has been for years.
The band played its recently released Space EP in its entirety right in the middle of the set. Once the intro from the first song of the EP “hit, the lights went dark and a projector displayed images of space, the moon and more onto a backdrop as the band members played. Once again, that slight little visual tweak added so much more to the performance. Of the six songs on the EP, the highlight was “Asteroid,” the last song of the EP, as lead vocalist Mike Hranica went from an emotional and chilling spoken verse into powerful and chill inducing screams.
Another noteworthy aspect of the Devil Wears Prada's set was that the band delivered song after song the entire time with only one exception. After 12 songs, Hranica finally broke the action to briefly talk about the band's history in Ohio. Stating how this was the band’s first show at the Agora, he remembered playing venues like the Grog Shop and Peabody's. Right after that, though it was back to the action. Never once did the band let up, and never once did the band stumble. It was a flawless performance from a band that always delivers perfection.
On the support side, the Word Alive killed it. Lead vocalist Telle Smith was absolutely phenomenal. His ability to go from melodic singing to deep lows and sickening highs is unprecedented. The band's performance of “Lighthouse” showed off Smith's soft singing voice while “2012” showed off his brutal range in screams.
Unfortunately, Upon a Burning Body fell victim to a bad sound mix. The bass was way too high and became the only thing you could hear, making every song a garbled mess of excessive bass. Also, the band needs to alter the constant need to end its set with a cover of “Turn Down For What.” A band with three albums should never be relying on a cover to send the crowd home happy.
With the Color Morale there isn't much to say as the band was only able to play for about 15 minutes. Unfortunately , someone in the crowd suffered a seizure early on in the band’s set and everything was brought to a halt to tend to the fan. With the time they had however, the Color Morale was able to play a couple of solid songs.
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