- Dec 10, 2023

A Parent's Perspective "IN THIS MOMENT. ICE NINE KILLS” Show Review

All known for their over-the-top live performances as well as their twisted imagery, music videos and accompanying heavy sound, In This Moment and Ice Nine Kills team up with Avatar and New Years Day on the Kiss Of Death 2023 Tour.

The month long trek saw the bands coast across North America hitting major cities along the way including Orlando FL, Washington DC, Detroit MI and more and it's in Johnstown PA where I caught these bands on tour.

DECEMBER 1ST, 2023 JOHNSTOWN, PA: In This Moment, Ice Nine Kills, Avatar and New Years Day strolled into the raining, Windy City of Johnstown PA. The venue for the evening is the 1st Summit Arena in Johnstown typically used for hockey, but tonight would be used for all out metal anarchy. The show kicked off around 6:30PM with doors opening around 5:30PM. After grabbing press and photo creds from the box office, myself as well as my kids, yes they're coming to shows now, were escorted to the pit area of the show.

At 6:30 New Years Day, who is my youngest daughter of 11's favorite band at the moment took stage where they opened up with their latest single Vampyre which dropped earlier this year in 2023. Up next was my favorite song by the band Come For Me. While shooting photos, I looked back in the crowd and saw both of my kids head banging and mouthing the lyrics to the song. Hurts Like Hell, another stand-alone single dropped in 2022, and a big fan favorite. My daughter's favorite track Shut Up was next, she was overwhelmed with joy hearing it for the first time live which was followed by Kill or Be Killed, Nocturnal and finishing the set up with Angel Eyes which originally featured Chris Motionless of Motionless in White.

After an intermission of hip-hop and country music over the PA, probably to cleanse the pallet of the heaviness, the Swedish metal group Avatar was up next. By their stage presence alone, they are now both my 11 year old and 19 year old kid's favorite band. Opening the set with a man dressed as a sex slave gimp wheeling out a platform with a balloon attached. Lead singer Johannes Eckerstrom popped his head from the box, then fully emerging from the box with his trademark giant Joker-esque grin, popped the red balloon on stage and jumped straight into their first track Dance Devil Dance which was quickly followed by The Eagle Has Landed. My favorite track Bloody Angel was next followed by Smells Like A Freakshow which featured a brief intermission of talking to the audience about being runaway freaks in the circus. My kid started to cry and told me it's the first time she'd ever felt like she was part of something which made me realize why doing this matters so much. The band closed out with Hail the Apocolypse before exiting the stage throwing guitar pics and drumsticks into the crowd.

During intermission, we went to the merch tables where we were overwhelmed and decided to come back later. Just as we re-entered the arena a giant red curtain emerged which featured the title of a movie opening with the rating of the movie being IX the Roman numeral for 9. Seeing Ice Nine Kills live is definitely an experience to say the least. Each song is about a different horror film and the band re-enacts scenes from the movie as the song is being played live. The opening title credits to the movie began to play as the lights dimmed and the curtain dropped. The opening track Hip To Be Scared, based offf the American Psycho film kicked off which saw the band dressed as lawyers and businessmen on stage. Lead singer Spencer Charnas wielded a microphone in one hand and an axe in the other. Midway through the track an actor playing the "Paul" character in the American Psycho film waltzs on stage only to be "murdered" a few minutes later.

Track Rainy Day was up next based on the Resident Evil movie series as well as video games. This track saw zombies attacking people all throughout the song with police on stage fighting back. Meat and Greet was followed which is based on the Silence of the Lambs film. During the song, a police officer wheeled out a person in a mask and straight jacket similar to Hannibal Lecter in the movie where the police officer was promptly murdered and "eaten" at the end of the song. Ex-Mortis which is about the Evil Dead series was up next which featured Spencer wielding a chainsaw throughout the entire track. A song about Jaws entitled Rocking The Boat followed which featured a giant shark onstage, yes you heard that right.

Stabbing In the Dark followed which is about the Halloween franchise with The Fastest Way To A Girl's Heart Is Through Her Ribcage followed which is a deep cut track from their 2014 album The Predator Becomes The Prey. My kid's favorite track IT is The End was up next which is about the IT movie series, featured someone on stage dressed as Georgie with balloons and lead singer Spencer dressed as the antagonistic clown.

Wurst Vacation followed which is about the hostel movies with Funeral Derangements, about the Pet Sematary movies following that. All the while these songs are being played, two giant monitors on stage which look like old-school tubed televisions are on stage portraying scenes from the music videos tied to each song.

Ice Nine Kills finished up with four more tracks, Your Number's Up which is about Scream, a Ghostface character chased around the "Cindy" character on stage the entire song before she was "murdered". The American Nightmare, about the Nightmare on Elm Street films, was up, which is one of my favorite tracks and got me into the band. Followed by The Shower Scene which is a classic INK song about the Psycho movie with the band finishing up with their track Welcome To Horrorwood which is a general track about horror in itself which is a perfect end to Ice Nine Kills' set.

After a brief intermission of trying to get to a merch table, headliner In This Moment was up. I've seen In This Moment twice before and every time they're amazing. As Journey's Don't Stop Believing blared over the speaker the lights dimmed and the curtain dropped. Opening up with The Purge, In This Moment wasted no time to entertain. During their second track, The In-Between pyro blasted on stage causing waves of heat to fans. My favorite track Sanctify Me was up next followed by Blood and Sacrifice.

Two covers back to back were played Bjork's Army Of Me was first followed by a sexy cover of Nine Inch Nail's Something I Can Never Have. In This Moment followed up with Adrenalize from 2012's Blood record. The Big Bad Wolf was next from the 2014 Black Widow album with In This Moment closing the night out with their signature track Whore from the Blood album. During the track dunce hats with the word WHORE written on it were seen in the crowd as they were at the merch tables in the lobby.

The night closed out and we headed to the lobby where my youngest daughter spotted a signed poster by Avatar that she had to have, and she got. All of the bands were super nice and friendly though serious and scary on stage, as said by my youngest. If you ever get a chance to check out ANY of these bands live it's definitely going to be worth it. This was the perfect concert to any avid metal and horror fan. Ice Nine Kills aside, the other bands had some pretty scary and dramatic moments on stage. These bands give it their all and their live performance shows.

- You can check out a photo gallery, and more below!