Last night at the Nokia Theater in L.A. we saw the “Hell Pop” tour with In This Moment, Motionless in White, KYNG and All Hail the Yeti. This was the final night of the tour with this line-up, so we were fortunate enough to catch it here in L.A.
The last time we came down to see a show here in L.A. was for the Monster Energy Outbreak Tour at the end of September which was also at the Nokia Theater. We decided that we very much liked this venue and would come down and see shows here as often as we could. We arrived fairly early (as usual) and were quite surprised that there was really no line-up at the entrance to speak of. We thought we were way early, but it was only a half hour until the doors were to open. It turned out that it must have been a bad night to schedule a show (night before Thanksgiving) as they did not sell enough tickets and instead of letting us sit in our incredibly awesome seats in the balcony, they kept the balcony closed and gave us pit tickets instead. We were a little bummed out at first, but scored ourselves a good vantage point just to the right of center stage at the second level rail so we didn’t have anyone standing in front of us.
The first band on was All Hail the Yeti. There are a few new bands throughout the year where we are surprised on how good they turn out to be and these guys were one of these bands. They were incredibly powerful and full of energy. They really got the crowd pumped and started the night of great music. Nicki and I went and visited them at their merch. table after their set to meet them and get their CD. We talked with the guys for a little while and had them sign a poster for us. They were a great group of guys who clearly love doing what they do and very much appreciate their fans.
Next up was KYNG who were also surprisingly good. These guys didn’t have the typical thrash metal sound to them. There was no screaming, but more of a vintage vibe reminiscent of Metallica, Led Zeppelin and Sound Garden. They did a great rendition of Van Halen’s Hot For Teacher, actually nailed it! Interesting how many of the kids in the audience had no idea this was a cover until the band told them.
Motionless In White came up next. These guys were actually the reason why we were at the show. They are Nicki’s favorite band (or at least one of her top 5). With the exception of the equipment issues that they were having (which they handled very well), they were epic. They opened with “Synthetic Love” which was a great opening song that set the energy level for the rest of their set. One of the best songs they played was an acoustic version of “Sinematic” featuring Tim Skull on the guitar. This song by no means is a soft acoustic song, but Chris Motionless performed it with incredible emotion and passion. They also did a mind-blowing version of “Abigail” which they didn’t play live when we saw them at the Mayhem Festival over this past summer. They closed their set with their anti establishment anthem “A-M-E-R-I-C-A” featuring Michael Vampire of Vampires Everywhere! accompanying Chris Motionless on lead vocals. This band has a great stage performance with Balz’ keyboard stand raising, lowering and spinning throughout the show and the incredibly hypnotic and entrancing Ghost on the Bass.
Finally, In This Moment came on and put on a great show with an incredible stage show. Maria Brink (lead vocals) came out and performed in her usual distinctive and suggestive style, which the guys in the crowd are obviously drawn to. They performed their top songs from the Blood album opening up with “Adrenalize” and of course playing many of their older songs as well. One of the most memorable performances had to be “Into the Light” where Maria performed sitting in a chair in center stage under blue spot lighting and swirling fog.
One of the highlights to the night was when Ashley Costello – vocals and Nikki Misery – guitar of New Years Day showed up right next to where we were standing. Both Nicki and Ryan rushed over to meet them and have their photos taken with them. What a treat this was. We saw them perform at Warped this past summer and they became one of our favorite bands.
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