“IT IS VALENTINE’S DAY AFTER ALL AND I JUST WANT TO ADORE YOU”

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐(5/5)

MOTIONLESS IN WHITE AT ALEXANDRA PALACE, LONDON
PHOTOCREDIT: **CHARIS LYDIA BAGIOKI**

If you’re going to spend Valentine’s Day with someone who screams at you, you could do worse than Motionless in White at Ally Pally. Some people exchange roses, but the rest of us exchanged bruises and screamed the lyrics to ‘Another Life’ to strangers. Peak romance if you ask me, but make it metalcore. I have been a fan of Motionless in White since 2013/14; back then devotion was forged in immaculate misconception and sustained by bad merch decisions (and maybe too much eyeliner). But seeing them now, a whole year since they headlined the O2 Brixton, filling up a venue of the scale of Alexandra Palace, felt like watching a long-term plan finally compile without errors. There is growth and efficiency, but it still unhinged in a way only Motionless in White can pull off.

Opening the night were Australia’s Make Them Suffer, who tore through the stage like a controlled demolition. Their music is a cathedral of heaviness, motion, brutal vox and cleans. The pit woke up fast, the way an alarm clock wakes you up by throwing you out of bed. Their set was tight, bleak and effective. The setlist was a mosher’s dream: starting off with ‘Ghost of Me’, ‘Bones’, ‘Mana God’ and going to ‘Oscillator’, ‘Epitaph’ and ‘Doomswitch’. During ‘Erase Me’, the pits opened wider than any other song, and the bodies surged forward. The venue felt incredibly warm and the gig had only just started, but Make Them Suffer always know how to bring the heat. And if you need statistics of how much chaos they caused, they had 175 (!) surfers get over the barrier in the short set they played. Yes, you read that right.

The heavy mood changed completely when Dayseeker took the stage, with the emotional equivalent of reading old messages you promised yourself you wouldn’t. For the heartbroken, Dayseeker are a melodic, aching and immaculately performing band, who soften the room without defanging it. Their setlist was more dreamy than Make Them Suffer, and the lights also served well to frame the emotional and softer songs. Starting off with hit ‘Pale Moonlight’, they had the arena singing along to every single lyric. As the performance progressed, with ‘Shapeshift’, ‘Crawl Back to my Coffin’, ‘Without Me’, ‘Creature in the Black Night’, ‘Sleeptalk’ and of course, ‘Neon Grave’, you could see how visibly Ally Pally was moved. The set was tight, the vocals were on point and by the end of it, half the crowd looked like they were rethinking past relationships, whilst the other half was texting apologies they would absolutely delete later. The mood did not die by the mellow interval, but lovers’ hope kinda did.

Motionless’ setlist read like a greatest-hits argument that they’ve been right all along. Old cuts for the lifers, newer material delivered with confidence of a band who knows Disguise wasn’t a phase, they had it all. When ‘Voices’ hit, the room became a choisce of beautifully damaged extroverts, whilst ‘Afraid of the Dark’ and ‘City Lights’ landed with a smirk sharp enough to draw blood. ‘AMERICA’ was communal exorcism, and ‘Another Life’ followed by ‘Eternally Yours’ on Valentine’s Day felt like emotional warfare delivered with maximum impact. This is what Motionless in White’s set was in a nutshell: crowd consent that everyone was ready to get hurt. Yet, there was something satisfying about a band that doesn’t overexplain itself, because Motionless know which songs trigger which reactions and deploy them with the accuracy of a chess grandmaster.

Coming on to the stage were not just the band, but as always, they were accompanied by dancers/pyrotechnics-extraordinaire The Cherry Bombs. The set was catered to accommodate sharp guitars, theatricality, a trip down memory lane and sexy dancing alongside a grande production of flames and pyro that not many bands of this scale can pull off. Chris Motionless, the ever charismatic frontman and ring leader, kept addressing the audience and pausing to cherish the spectacle from the stage. He mentioned several times how being in London was a bucket list check after bucket list check, from filling one venue after the other, and to play a show on Valentine’s Day made it extra special. He even prompted couples to ‘go get the job done’ after the gig, and of course dedicated the most painfully romantic song to the audience. Highlights of the set included ‘Werewolf’, ‘Hollow Points’ and ‘Slaughterhouse’, because they got the most sing alongs of the night, ‘Disguise’, ‘Soft’ and ‘Cyberhex’ for getting the surfers of the crowd going and of course ‘Not My Type’ for the highest pyro I’ve seen at Ally Pally.

Production-wise, Motionless in White went all out. The lightshow was sleek and complimented the band’s theatricality, cutting the set into stark and cinematic chapters. The visuals were there to enhance rather than distract, whilst the pyro-show definitely stole the spotlight multiple times. It was aesthetic, committed, deliberate and the opposite of subtle, as the songs progressed and filled the venue with all sorts of different hues. The effort put into the show did not go to waste at all, as the crowd was constantly responsive. The singalongs were deafening, the pits erupted on cue, and during softer moments hands and bodies swayed as if they hadn’t been crashing into each other one song ago. There was something profoundly bonding about screaming bleak lyrics with thousands of people who know every word. It was love… but louder.

Spending Valentine’s Day with Motionless in White felt appropriate; if there is a band that can pull off a gig on such a day, it is them. It was a night for people who understand that romance can be sincere and still come with blast beats, screamo vocals and pyro, and what a perfect way to sum up a Saturday night with a band I have been following for over a decade. In short, Motionless didn’t just play Alexandra Palace, they owned it. And if love is a battlefield, consider this life well spent.