Images: Motionless in White, The Devil Wears Prada, The Word Alive and more November 15, 2015 at Brooklyn Bowl Las Vegas

I was late to the party learning that the Apollo X tour would be making a stop in Las Vegas, but I knew I had to make arrangements to catch this show as soon as I heard. With a lineup like this: co-headliners Motionless In White and The Devil Wears Prada and support from The Word Alive, Upon A Burning Body, and The Color Morale, I just couldn’t miss this show.

Unfortunately the show fell on the night of a marathon that left Las Vegas Blvd completely shut down. In preparation, I left my house 90 minutes before doors were set to open and I still ended up missing pretty much all of The Color Morale. This was very disappointing because I’ve seen the guys a few times now and it’s always a great set filled with words of hope and positivity from frontman Garret Rapp. I was able to get my cameras out and set up just in time to snap a few shots off.

Upon A Burning Body was up next and they brought the crowd energy up a notch. The highlight came towards the end as the band jumped into their cover of DJ Snake and Lil Jon’s 2014 hit “Turn Down For What,” leaving everyone against the barricade jumping up and down.

To round out the last of the support bands, The Word Alive took the stage. Not only are these guys super talented and make great music, but the group is also a music photographer’s dream. The showmanship of frontman Telle Smith and the chemistry between the rest of the members really just all come together to produce a great show to watch as a fan but also produces some amazing shots. They opened with “Entirety,” “Glass Castle” and “Play the Victim.” all material from their latest two records Real and Life Cycles. TWA has grown a huge fanbase all over and that was evident on this night as many faces in the crowd could be seen singing along to every song.

Next up was my personal favorite act of the night, The Devil Wears Prada. This would be my 7th time seeing the band perform and honestly, it never gets boring. As the stage went completely black, the opening notes to “Assistant to the Regional Manager” played and the crowd erupted. The song continued on as the strobes sporadically went off and illuminated a guitar wielding Mike Hranica and the rest of the band. The band continued on with fan favorites “Born to Lose,” “Escape,” “Outnumbered,” and “Sailor’s Prayer” all while the mosh pits opened up and the occasional crowd surfer came over the barrier.

The feeling of the set quickly changed direction as the house lights went black again and the band disappeared off stage. The entire backdrop then lit up with an overlay and the samples of the band’s new Space EP began to play. For this entire tour, the band has been playing the new EP in it’s entirety which is great to see. They did something very similar last time in town when they played their entire Zombie EP in full. The band sounded incredible as usual and Hranica continued his crazy antics moving from one side of the stage to the other and back. The set ended on a high note with two older songs, “Reptar, King of the Ozone” and “Danger:Wildman.”

The stage crew immediately went to work on dismantling TDWP’s complex lighting rigs and replacing it with the simple but Halloween themed stage setup for Motionless in White. Once done, the house lights went down and Jack-O-Lanterns placed along the stage lit up. Fog filled the stage and the anticipation began to build for the crowd that had now finally started to fill a majority of the standing floor space. The band came out dressed up in costumes and playing to “Death March” accompanied by a costumed young lady waving a flag that simply read “MIW.” This was my first time ever seeing the band live and I had only heard a small handful of songs before tonight. Both musically and theatrically, the Scranton, PA group put on a fantastic show and it’s easy to see how they’ve grown in popularity.

The headlining set continued with “Devil’s Nigh,” “Unstoppable” and “Fatal.” Throughout the night, we saw many costumed ladies joining the band onstage and interacting with the crowd with a giant super soaker squirt gun, signs with lyrics on them, and other props, and it was great to see everyone get so into it. Mid-way, the band started in on a cover of Linkin Park’s “One Step Closer” which was fantastically done and that I actually found to be my favorite part of the set. The cover was very well received and had everyone shouting “and I’m about to break” with the band.

Motionless in White closed the night off with the slower and more vocally driven song “Sinematic” and picked it right back up with “Synthetic Love.” The main set ended with “Scissorhands” and the band then came back out to play their hit “Reincarnate.” I must say I was very much impressed with both how great they sound live and the theatrics of the entire show. By the time this is published, the Apollo X tour will be over but I encourage everyone to check out all the bands from the night on whatever upcoming tours they set out on.

-Tylor Thuirer | https://www.flickr.com/photos/thuirermedia/