Ice Nine Kills and special guests take over the Co-Op arena in Manchester with their “A Work of Art” tour.
Words by Tanita Hingerty | Dec 10, 2025
The crowd is dressed to impress- largely in their best horror attire, we see familiar and legendary characters who exude an air of excitement through their terrifying masks.
TX2 are the first support act up tonight and they burst onto the stage with huge amounts of energy from the get go. They’re jumping and moving chaotically all over the smoke filled stage, when the lead singer-Timothy Evan Thomas opens his mouth, we’re met with the biggest vocal introduction of a rage filled “bleugh”. The sets pace is ever changing while the band fluctuate effortlessly between melodic and hardcore sounds. The bassist is spinning in circles and completely in sync with the large circle pit that’s formed in the centre of the crowd.
While performing, they project a contagious and ever energetic attitude which seems to reach all the way to the back of the room. While choruses become even more hardcore sounding and sliding scales on guitars are introduced, band members slide on their knees from one side of the stage to another while taking us on a musical journey with them.
Guttural growls lead us into suspenseful static and vibrato bass. The lead singer asks “How many of you grew up in your local hardcore scene? Prove it!”…the crowd seem to be seasoned professionals. The lead singer and bassist climb into the mosh pit and provoke the crowd to go feral. They give the audience vocal and physical tasks which we obey. They make us feel part of the show and personally warm us up.
The Devil Wears Prada take to the stage and the crowd erupt. They play -mostly- songs from their newly released album “Flowers” which the audience already know off by heart.
They jump in sync around the stage while playing perfectly intricate melodies, while projecting huge amounts of exceptional energy. Their layered vocals are haunting and powerful while paired with uniquely delivered sounds that are readily evoking and range from heavy and intense, to viscerally emotive, we can feel their passion throughout while we have our own emotional responses to the music in this complete energy exchange.
Their liveliness has completely filled the arena and the pit is opened up on command. Just as sounds become darker and heavier; high kicks and ninja moshing can be witnessed while elongated guitar chords become sharper in sound. Crowd surfing is encouraged and this creates a constant sea of movement.
Synthesised melodies come as sound waves which we can feel throughout our whole bodies. Prominent keyboard playing and echoey guitar riffs are paired with velvetised vocals which quickly lead into intensified screams; now even more profound and meaningful.
Phone torch lights illuminate the stadium for the song “Chemical” and it’s such a special moment; with the arena’s full capacity of arms waving side to side, making the whole room look like it’s swaying under the twinkling lights; a truly spiritual experience.
A clock chiming and ticking acting as a countdown can be heard as the stage plunges into darkness, which leads to a satirical and deadpan speech about vampiric rock and we’re advised about what’s in store for us from Creeper ‘s set. A backing track plays violins with intensified screeching like sounds matched with operatic singing, as the band take to the stage unified; their fists to the sky.
They’re extremely endearing, the whole set is dramatic and they exude a lot of prominent energy. The crowd reacts in benevolent screams, with no prompting needed, while the bands movements remain poised and stoic until the lead singer begins to swing his microphone on a wire in circles in the air while giving mouthed emphasis to ends of lyrical sentences which are beautifully dark and poetic, as well as chaotic. His voice is mesmerizingly low in pitch, creating opposing sounds while paired with the high-pitched frequencies of the guitars.
The drums intensify; their rhythm heartbeat like. The set is quickly alternating to unique movements with comedic intervals which lead to intense riffs and back again, each part delivered in full. They know how to engage with the crowd- who are continuously having a whole hearted sing along. Their aesthetic is also impressive , every aspect of the performance has them remaining in character and dedicated to their unique sound.
A red banner is placed along the front of the stage, hiding what’s behind it from our view, creepy music begins to play. There’s a huge amount of suspense in the room and when the banner is finally lifted, Ice Nine Kills are in position on stage, and the room becomes the loudest it’s been all night.
Immediately we are welcomed into another universe which is continuously exciting, full of fast paced surprises, utterly chaotic and intriguing.
Guttural screams are echoed around the arena, while a scene with characters from “Silence of The Lambs” can be seen on stage. “Hannibal Lector” escapes the chains he was tied up with, while pyro explodes upwards from the stage. We barely have any time to process what’s happened before we’re into the next song, with the quickest character change over.
There’s so much going on on the stage all at once, from impressive costumes, to special effects, fireworks in unexpected places, gore and theatrics…and that’s just the stage production. Their music is performed intently, passionately and perfectly throughout.
Each song is a stand alone performance in itself, in this all encapsulating performance which has so many layers of new characters and elements introduced throughout.
As a cover of “Walking on Sunshine” is played with comedic timings, we almost forget the horrors that persist until we’re led into a unexpected zombie outbreak, the audience proves they have no fear as multiple crowd surfers make their way up to the front of the stage to try to help.
Spencer-the lead singers- stage presence and vocals are captivating while he portrays all the characters he embodies incredibly authentically. His vocal range is huge and forever fluctuating and remains consistently strong while he’s projecting his own clever twists on to the performance.
The whole band are multi talented and even with all of their multiple roles and responsibilities; they manage to still interact with and involve the audience throughout, making us feel like a part of the performance.
There’s montages of horror actors giving cryptic messages on a large screen, while multiple circle pits begin to open in readiness around the ground floor for the encore.
Confetti bursts out of canons, giving us all a jumpscare. Spencer announces it’s been “A horror and a privilege” and I’ve never been so proud to have made it out alive as I leave the arena feeling like the ultimate final girl.
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