After announcing the tour two very, VERY, long years ago, the crowd at the Fortitude Music Hall was absolutely ravenous for I Prevail and Motionless in White. Tour cycles for I Prevail’s Trauma and Motionless in White’s Disguise had come and gone. But both bands were committed to giving Australia the tours we were promised before the pandemic. And they absolutely delivered in what was probably one of the most insane, loud, and reaction-filled gigs I’ve been to since shows have kicked back up.
But before Motionless and I Prevail came out, we were treated to a fantastic seven song set from Melbourne based metalcore band, Windwaker. Now, this is a band I’ve had the name of for a little while on my radar, but one I’d never gotten to check out yet. And well, they’re definitely getting added to the rotation. Walking out and starting the set with their 2022 album Love Language‘s opener, Beautiful, they busted through a great set of songs. The highlight of the set though was them absolutely rocking a cover of ‘Toxic’ by Britney Spears. Turns out, for me to like this tune more, it just needs a wall of death and more breakdowns. The crowd went nuts for it, and Windwaker returned the energy in kind, by hitting some pretty great tunes from Love Language, including ‘Nighthawk’, ‘Superstitious Fantasy’, and set closer ‘Lucy’. Overall, they were a super fun band to watch. Despite delivering a great performance, the crowd didn’t seem super into them, but I think that came more from the angle that the crowd were hotter for what was to come.
And boy was I right. During the set changeover for Motionless, the crowd were HOT. Numerous cheers of Motionless rang out, and the crowd grew so restless that they even started singing songs in the pit. One of them turned out to be ‘Country Roads’ by John Denver. Never thought I’d hear John Denver at a metalcore show, but these are strange times we live in. The other funny thing that happened was during this changeover, some people in the pit lost their friend. So, they wrote her name onto their phone, and shined the phone around, trying to find her. The crowd then started chanting her name (Tara) a few times, until Tara was found. And when she was found, the crowd started cheering, whooping, and hollering that they had done a good job. Then someone followed up with the same method, but trying to find MILFs (if you don’t know, don’t google it). The crowd had a laugh, and not long after, the venue went dark for Australia’s favourite Pennsylvania based goth rockers.
Huge roars broke out as Motionless in White took to the stage, and instantly, the two-year wait was worth it for this moment, as we got treated to an absolute banger of a set. The set itself was pretty evenly split across releases, with Brisbane even being treated to two songs for the most recent album, Scoring the End of the World, despite this tour being for the 2019 release, Disguise. Blasting through tracks like set opener ‘Disguise’, ‘Voices’, and ‘Cyberhex’, you could tell Motionless were feeding off the energy Brisbane was throwing at them. I’ve seen Motionless once, years ago at the Riverstage, but this felt like a completely different band. Everything was tighter live. I actually think the crowd was hotter for these guys than I Prevail, which isn’t a shot at I Prevail at all. Motionless brought an intense energy to Brisbane that I believe inadvertently set the bar incredibly high.
The back end of the set was just as intense. After giving us ‘Scoring the End of the World’, we got probably the best song of the night in ‘Another Life’, before Motionless ripped into the opening riff of a cover of ‘Somebody Told Me’ by The Killers. This absolutely ruled live. The crowd, even those not there for Motionless, were singing this tune as loud as they could. Even another wall of death broke out in the pit. Motionless closed the set with ‘Eternally Yours’, but not before sending Brisbane off with a message. It had been five years since they had been to Australia. And they promised to not make that wait so long ever again, which received a chorus of applause and cheering. Like I said, the crowd were hot for Motionless, and the genuine appreciation for the Australian audience endeared Motionless even more to the crowd. Their return cannot come soon enough, and likely a headline tour.
Another set changeover, and more restlessness from the crowd broke out, including this time, a pit singalong of the chorus to ‘Hey Baby (Uhh, Ahh)’ by DJ Otzi. This literally felt like it went forever, because it just didn’t stop. But not long after, the rowdiness picked up with the stage turning red, and I Prevail walked out on stage. Unclean vocalist Eric Vanlerberghe walked out and hyped the crowd, before delivering the line Get on your knees and bow down! Several mini pits immediately opened up, as I Prevail gave us a very Trauma-heavy set. After ‘Bow Down’, we got ‘Gasoline’ and ‘Scars’, before clean vocalist Brian Burkheiser revealed to the audience that he had actually been battling some kind of throat issue he’d woken up with that morning. And it was either cancel the show, or come out and play their last sold out show in Australia, and he couldn’t let Brisbane down. He asked the crowd to help out with the next song, ‘Dead on Arrival’, which Brisbane was happy to oblige.
Due to Brian’s throat issue, Eric ended up doing most of the talking all night. Eric gave us a story about how the Australian tour has been crazy for them, so much so that their show in Sydney was actually the third biggest headline show of their entire career as a band Needless to say, Queensland patriotism played heavy here, as just the mention of Sydney was enough to elicit venue wide booing. Eric then continued, saying that even though Sydney was the third biggest show they’d done, Brisbane pipped them at the line, selling out the show by only 39 more tickets, making Brisbane officially the third biggest headline show they’d ever played. The audience then applauded themselves, both for the accomplishment, and as a middle finger to Sydney. Eric did get one cheeky swipe in though, saying with a giggle, that despite the feat, we weren’t as loud as Melbourne, which elicited massive boos, and even a “F*** Melbourne” chant.
I Prevail then kicked into higher gear, rolling out ‘Hurricane’ and ‘Rise Above It’, before delivering the heaviest performance of the night, with the freshly dropped single ‘Body Bag’, which is the first single for their new record True Power, due out in August. We then got banger after banger, with ‘Low’, ‘Paranoid’ and ‘Goodbye’. After Brian gave a beautiful speech about just how devastating the pandemic was to him personally, including losing his grandparents and not having the chance to say goodbye to them, we got an emotionally stirring rendition of the song ‘Breaking Down’. This song is a very heavy Brian song. And hearing this tune, with the added context that he was having trouble with his voice that night, gave the song an even greater emotional weight that when it was done, the venue exploded with cheers and applause for Brian. After Eric participated in proper Australian custom that is the Shoey, they ripped out ‘Deadweight’, before coming back and hitting us with the encore of ‘Come and Get It’. Before the “it’s about to get rowdy” line, Eric split the pit in what was probably the biggest wall of death I’ve seen in the Fortitude Music Hall. At the end of it all, I Prevail were able to send Brisbane happy on a major high, with promises they’d return soon.
