In This Moment – Rave / Eagles Club – Milwaukee WI – October 25th 2022

In This Moment with Nothing More, Sleep Token, and Cherry Bombs

Review and photos by Kate Klaus

With the spookiness of Halloween in the air, the notoriously haunted Rave/Eagles Club venue in Milwaukee, WI was the perfect venue for a show headlined by In This Moment, and complemented with 3 other eerie, theatrical and haunting performances.  

The night was opened by the Cherry Bombs, a dance crew that took the stage with macabre blacklight masks and burlesque outfits thundering rock beats and flashing lights.  This energy set the tone for the night, as they danced around stage with precision, acrobatics, and sensual acrobatics.  For their second number, a complex aerial dance was performed by one of the dancers in a dazzling bunny costume.  Their third dance paired completely with the mood of the evening, with hooded dancers seemingly worshiping another dancer performing a beautiful aerial routine.  The Cherry Bombs perfectly opened the night with excitement, talent, flare, and mystery.  

British rock collective Sleep Token came out next, taking the stage in as their masked and hooded identities.  They opened with their hauntingly beautiful song “Alkaline”, which was both emotive and darkly moving.  Their stage presence is captivating, with shadowy and enigmatic mannerisms and movement, and the melancholy vocals echoed off the beautiful, haunted Rave walls.  Their 6-song set included many of their heavier songs, paired well with the rest of the acts of the evening, and leaving the crowd wishing for more as they are one of the most captivating performers out there currently.  

Nothing More was up next and carried the high energy moments of the night.  Opening with “Turn it Up (Stand in the Fire)”, they roared on stage, and had the crowd screaming.  Despite still showing occasional pain from a recent rib injury, Jonny Hawkins was on fire, running and jumping around the stage, and giving everything to the crowd through the pain.  Their set was full of heavy hitters as well, minus the beautiful “Fadein/Fadeout”, which allowed moment of introspection and emotion toward the end of the set.  They also treated the crowd to their recent title track “SPIRITS” off there just-released album.  Their performance was packed with energy and musicality and could easily have carried a headlining spot on this tour.  

Ending the night was In This Moment, who brought their intensely theatrical show, complete with masks, CO2 cannons and guns, and intense costumes and theatrics.  Lead singer Maria Brink emerged to a chorus of masked drummers through an intensely fogged stage.  The fog was so thick at times it was almost hard to see her hovering atop a platform center stage.  Their music was intense, but even more entrancing was the full stage show, with so many visual and dramatic aspects.  Their performance was the perfect ending to a Halloween-season show at the perfect venue for this type of show.