Halloween has always been known as a day to dress up in your favorite mostly spooky costumes and gather with friends for a night of revelry. Make that gathering with friends around 10,000 and throw in five metalcore bands and you’ve got yourself one long, rowdy and extremely loud night. It was exactly what happened at the Mohegan Arena in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. on Halloween night as local boys done good, Motionless In White, headlined Apocalypse Festival 2024.
The event was spread out over two days with two different casts of supporting acts. Thursday’s show kicked off with Like Moths to Flames, but unfortunately due to traffic issues, we were not able to catch their set. SeeYouSpaceCowboy, a ferocious five-piece hardcore punk band from San Diego was up next. The band put in a ten song 30-minute set that featured the best named song of the evening, “I’m a Trans-Continental Railroad, Please Run a Train on Me.”
Coming out dressed as a knock-off Blue Man Group, Silent Planet, a four-piece metalcore act from Azusa, CA. delivered a brief, 30 minute set complete with all single-word song titles like “Collider,” “Antimatter,” and “Anunnski.” Lead vocalist Garrett Russell had some of the best vocals of the evening, and arguably had the most intensity on stage, at times jumping so high off his platform it would impress an NBA player. The Devil Wears Prada, a six-piece metalcore outfit from Dayton, Ohio got the sold-out crowd into a frenzy with a barrage of non-stop slamming metal including the opening numbers of “Mammoth,” and “Watchtower.” Guitarist Jeremy DePoyster instructed the crowd to open up a pit and let the mosh circle begin, to which nearly everyone in the front of the general admission floor obliged. It should be noted that along with the metalcore scene changing over the last twenty years, so has the approach to crowd surfing and moshing. Gone are the days where crowd surfing would get you forcefully removed from a venue; instead security simply waits for the person to be “surfed” to the front of the stage and then pulls them over the security rail and sends them through the security area back into the pit.
After a brief changeover the crowd surfing was literally non-stop as the evening’s headliners Motionless In White took the stage to deafening applause. Lead singer (and Pittston, PA native) Chris Cerulli was sprawled out on a couch that rose from underneath the stage, while guitarists Ryan Sitkowski and Ricky Olson, bassist Justin Morrow and drummer Vinny Mauro ripped into the opening of “Death March” from the bands 2014 album “Reincarnate.” The “Reincarnate” album was the focus of the two-day festival, as it was celebrating its 10th anniversary with a full performance each night – mixed in with the bands other material. A decent chunk of the album appeared early on in the set with songs like “Everybody Sells Cocaine,” and “Unstoppable” being dusted off for the first time in five years. With it being Halloween both the band and a majority of the crowd were dressed up as dark, horror-looking goth figures. It made for the perfect pairing with the one-two punch of “Dead as Fuck,” and “Not My Type: Dead as Fuck 2.”
Towards the middle of the set, two radio-friendly numbers from 2022’s “Scoring the End of the World” – “Werewolf,” and “Masterpiece.” The two songs were radio staples in the bands hometown region of Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, PA. But the sound is definitely much more “mainstream” sounding than most of the bands earlier material. Being from the same area, it’s hard to not draw some kind of comparison to NEPA’s other breakthrough metal act, Breaking Benjamin. For years, Breaking Benjamin found modern/hard rock success with a style of rock that is melodic and catchy, but tends to have a short lifespan for most bands. Most times not more than a decade before the next “it” band comes in. The two aforementioned songs by Motionless In White are in the same style as most of the other current rock chart toppers, but just feel kind of different for people who have seen them over the last 20 years.
In those same 20 years since forming, Motionless In White has had its share of lineup changes, with Cerulli being the only constant. Most of the former members live around the area where these shows were happening, but only one name seemed to be talked about. Josh Balz was keyboardist and sang backing vocals with the band from 2008 until 2017 when he left and became a successful business owner with several ventures in their hometown. Towards the end of the main set, Cerulli welcomed Balz to the stage and said “is everyone surprised?” While laughing, Cerulli elaborated that Balz “had to make 50 fucking posts about these shows” which only helped fuel everyone’s excitement.
When it was time to get to business they went old school with one of their most aggressive numbers, “Abigail” from their 2010 debut, “Creatures.” Sticking to the same album, Balz hung around for a thumping “We Only Come Out at Night.” For long time fans Balz’s sit in (which happened again the following night) was a welcomed throw back to their early days. The two shows in general were something to be proud of for all current and former members of the band as they showed that the music they all helped create got the band to where it is now. Many of the NEPA locals remember seeing the band in its infancy at venues like The Northeast Fair, a family-oriented fair where the band made its debut and won the battle of the bands competition in their first ever live performance. Ironically, the fair would go on to ban Motionless In White and all hardcore music because of its family nature. They remember seeing them at The Staircase, a former music club in Pittston, PA where the band was “discovered” by a local agent. They remember spending Monday nights at the Browntown Italian Club in Pittston Township, where the band would put on weekly shows for friends in the building’s rental hall.
The Staircase and the fair are no longer, and now Motionless In White is headlining national tours, selling out arenas and amphitheaters, and is getting ready to do a criss-cross jaunt through Europe. It’s an incredibly wild thought to grasp when you remember seeing them eating deep-fried Oreos and watching a kids clown show while waiting to make their debut performance at their hometown fair. But they deserve it. They’ve worked tirelessly at their art and have done the relentless touring of being an opening act whenever possible. Even though a member may change here or there, the band as a functioning outfit never gave up. They’re signed to a label, have released six albums, played an enormous amount of shows, and are visibly enjoying the current ride they are on.
The rest of the evening continued with a Balz-less lineup that went back to the “Reincarnate” celebration including an acoustic version of “Sinematic,” “Final Dictvm,” and the show closing “Carry the Torch.” The two-night stand in Wilkes-Barre brought in people from around the country with people telling each other about their flights being late and travel nightmares. It’s something that didn’t seem possible 20 even 10 years ago, but Motionless In White might be at their mainstream peak right now and at this point, there’s no telling what else is possible.
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