Live Review : Motionless In White + Dayseeker + Make Them Suffer @ AO Arena, Manchester on February 7th 2026

If there is an act that truly deserves the opportunity to step into the big league of enormodome arenas, that band is Motionless in White. They have worked tirelessly to build up the rapid and expectant fanbase large enough to fill a good proportion of this 22,000-capacity room. Their following has been accumulated through blood, sweat and rampant omnipresence. This is their eleventh show in this city in under 15 years. To earn the adoration they now command, they certainly have put in the steps. From a debut headline appearance at the late lamented roadhouse, through a slew of diverse supporting berths, numerous Ritz appearances and onto a majestic headliner at the O2 warehouse less than twelve months ago. If you need to step back and marvel at just how far they've come, remember they were headlining the subterranean club Academy almost 10 years ago to the day.

However, as the opening act, Make Them Suffer, take the stage it is obvious that this is not a partisan crowd singularly focused on just the headliner. The reception they receive is astonishing. It reverberates around the colossal room and probably can be heard in the adjacent railway station. They are brisk and brittle, existing on the heavier side of metalcore. What, however, sets them aside from a bevy of other acts residing in that postcode, is the vocal interjections of Alex Reade. Her pristine voice magnificently complements the harsh refrains of Sean Harmais. A relatively new addition, Alex seems to be having the time of her life on this keyboard setup, head banging away with playful passion. Like Motionless in White, Make Them Suffer are no strangers to Mancunian, and it is obvious that their eight previous appearances in our town have been taken to heart. All seven tracks aired this evening are sung along with gusto and you get the distinct feeling if they carry on with this level of familiarity, it won't be long before they themselves can make a claim to top the bill in this room.

Dayseeker seem to have taken a different trajectory to the slowly slowly approach. They’ve may well have been around a good decade or so, but it is only recent post-COVID years that they have exploded into the public consciousness. Sell out show at both the O2 Ritz and Albert Hall, as well as a third-stage headline at Download, have cemented their reputation. There is a euphoric rush of adoration. There is something about their emotion-filled post-hardcore that speaks to the detached isolation of Gen Z. The crowd are not just regurgitating lyrics; they are reciting words that describe their own fractured relationship with the world in general. Before ‘Crawl Back To My Coffin’, Rory Rodriguez opens up how it’s his favourite song on the new album and how it’s about pushing through hard times to come out stronger on the other side. It’s that raw openness that connects with the followers below. Dayseeker don’t offer an escape from the traumas of existence; they illustrate and identify them. They soundtrack the struggles of being young in the modern world in a way that speaks to every lost soul in the room. They are a band that belongs to their fans, and that sense of ownership is palpable. 

If Motionless in White’s long ascent to this stage in their career has taught them one thing, then it is how to put on a show. There are risers on the stage with screens and three further massive screens at the back. There is more pyro than you can shake a stick at, and they have elicited the help of erotic dancers to the stars, The Cherry Bombs, who cavort around the stage adorned in angle grinders and not much else. It is a hyperactive spectacle and everything happens at three hundred miles an hour. An obviously touched Chris Cerulli states that tonight is by far the biggest headline crowd they’ve played to in the UK or Europe and continues to pontificate as the evening goes on just how much support of the fans means to him and the band. In many ways, Motionless in White are the true winners of the social media age. An act that, through interaction and proximity have slowly but surely built themselves a large enough following to be catapulted into arenas. They have achieved this by directly connecting to the people as opposed to media hype or record label pre-ordination.

Musically, they firmly exist in the commercial shallows of metalcore. It is all big, chorused numbers after big, chorused numbers. Every track has a sing-along refrain, and it is glorious in its saccharine nature. Like most success Modern metal, it synthesises the bold, bombastic nature of the eighties and welds it to the emotional vulnerability of the nineties. Motionless in White put on a show, but it is not to its audience; it is with them. There is no encore; that is so 20th century. Instead, the set culminates with ‘Eternally Yours’. The cherry bombs return to throw red roses into the crowd,  whilst Chris bounds into the security/photo runway to hand the flowers out to very lucky fans. Tonight is all about connection. Connection takes time, effort and humility. All three of tonight’s protagonists have succeeded because they have tirelessly and openly built the connection and offered a sense of belonging. This evening is the outcasts taking over the arena and they have no appetite to give it back any time soon.

Check the “In The Flesh” page for more photos!
Motionless In White + Dayseeker + Make Them Suffer