The Spring Invasion Tour Ignites Skyway Theatre

As someone who is not remotely up to speed with things outside of Whole Foods and music, I was completely unaware that there were several events going on in downtown Minneapolis around the same time I showed up at Skyway Theatre to cover Atreyu, Motionless In White, and Wilson. An added bonus to the extra swarm of people was the construction I was oblivious to as well, but as soon as I made it inside the venue, I forgot about the small obstacles I faced in getting here. 

Detroit based band Wilson was an act that I was definitely unfamiliar with walking into this show. I asked a fellow photographer what kind of music they were and he mentioned the phrases party metal and Steel Panther, which at first made me question how they fit on the bill. However, once the band took the stage it became clearer and clearer with each passing song that Wilson was here to get the crowd amped for the rest of the night. Their stage presence was infectious, and although the had the same monotonous three smoke pillars throughout their whole set, their performance and lighting more than made up for that. While I might not go out of my way to casually listen to Wilson, based off of their performance, I would definitely catch them live again when they make their return to the Twin Cities. 

Next up was one f my personal favorites, Atreyu. Sadly, this will have only been the second time I will have seen this band, the first being at Northern Invasion last year. Starting at 8:20 sharp, Atreyu came out strong on stage with “The Time Is Now,” then jumping right into crowd a crowd favorite “Right Side Of The Bed.”  The only part of this show that upset me was that this was only my second time seeing this band and all night I hoped for a deep cut, but the band didn’t stray far from their older hits. Atreyu came through with a few other old favorites (“Bleeding Mascara” and “When Two Are One”) and even three in a cover of Bon Jovi’s “You Give Love A Bad Name.” Honestly, I left their set hoping Atreyu plans to make another stop soon to the Twin Cities, since their club show blew their festival performance out of the water for me. 

Last up for the night was Motionless In White. Even with a few fans trickling out of Skyway after Atreyu, no one would be able to tell the crowd was slightly smaller due to the incredible power emitting from the stage. The crowd, particularly the front few rows, were clearly there for Motionless, as they jumped and screamed along the to the songs. This was my first time seeing Motionless in White in a few years (last time was Warped a while back), and the band killed it on stage. Even if their lighting seemed to be a bit monochromatic at times, their performance was stellar; the band has a charming and powerful charisma on stage that keeps you glued to the stage. Their performance, on top of Atreyu and Wilson’s, made this show one of the best I’ve been to do far this year.