Kiss of Death: Ice Nine Kills and more at the Virgin Theater in Las Vegas

Kiss of Death Tour with ICE NINE KILLS / IN THIS MOMENT/ AVATAR / TX2

The Virgin Theater hosted the Kiss of Death Tour for a horror themed night of metal, featuring Ice Nine Kills and In This Moment as co headliners, as well as theatrical AVATAR and TX2.

Opening the night's show was TX2, who took the stage early backed by a 3 piece band. TX2 (vocalist Evan Thomas) is a Colorado based producer, writer, and performer who blends hip hop with punk to create a unique sound in this project, and has build a pretty large following on TicTok to fuel his rise. Wearing black & white face paint and a cut off shirt, he opened up with “Vampire By Rumor” to get the horror themed night off to a rowdy start. TX2 is all over the place once he hits the stage, and is hardly still for any length of time, really creating movement and energy. The set was short but memorable, with summer single "Swing at Me" and he ended the show with new song "Mad", a collaboration with Ice Nine Kills, that fit in nicely. More on TX2 HERE.

I was ready for the return of Avatar to Vegas! Avatar is a Swedish heavy metal band, Led by the magnificent Johannes Eckerström, that is like a traveling circus, and has everything I love when going to rock shows; crazy outfits, imaginative stage setups, facepaint and killer songs. Their show was scaled a bit back since there were multiple bands on this bill, but they still gave a hugely theatrical performance, opening with “Dance Devil Dance” from their most recent album, and the ringmaster-esque "Eagle Has Landed". But the best was saved until the end, as Avatar closed their short set with “Smells Like A Freakshow” and ending with “Hail the Apocalypse” which included a bunch of giant balloons tossed into the crowd. Always a great time and a hell of a show with Avatar. Check out music and more on the band HERE.

In This Moment was first co-headliner of the night, and it took a bit before the stage was set up and ready to go. Maria Brink and ITM opened the show with a surprising cover of "Don't Stop Believing", and had a number of set/costume type changes but it was foggy and densely lit so you really couldn't see much of it. The set was 9 songs and had a mix of more recent music but included the expected "Blood" and "Adrenalize", and roaring finale of the classic "Whore". (no photos allowed for ITM).

ICE NINE KILLS finished in the finale spot for the night, and certainly brought everything but the kitchen sink to the stage for this tour. Body parts, bodies hanging on racks, this was a horror themed movie in real life, but did we really expect anything less?? Led by the murderous Spencer Charnas ,these guys dress like frat boys; dress shorts, collared shirts, sandals, tennis shoes all covered in blood, and put on one of the best shows I have seen this year. They act out different horror themes

throughout their show with the use of different props and characters onstage, including knives, axes, shovels, a Hannibal Lecter character, a demonic goat looking creature who eviscerates a person onstage and pulls out their intestines... The show included their 2024 cover single of "Walking On Sunshine", upbeat with a with a twist - a giant sun character was on stage holding a shovel, and pretends to bash the band members.

Between songs there were two TV’s on each side of the stage that played old 1960’s commercials before launching the next song, and that kept the momentum as the band redied for the next bloody melee. The band played by far the longest song set of the night, with full stage acting to go along with it, and finally ended their terror reign with "Welcome to Horrorwood" from their last 2023 album release.

Ice Nine Kills takes horror themed bands to a different level, and the crowd loved it. Their metal, punk, horror sound slays but still remains melodic, an great combination for the fans to play along and be a part of the production. By far one of the most entertaining concerts of the year, check out more on Ice Nine Kills and tour dates HERE.