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All Photos By Krystie Archer/Krystiee Lee Photography

As many excited fans are patiently waiting for things to get back to normal and concerts to be able to fully resume again, we are lucky enough to have been able to get a few shows thrown our way for the end of this year. One of those shows being IN THIS MOMENT and BLACK VEIL BRIDES co-headlining ‘The In Between Tour’, featuring Arizona-based DED as the opener. I'm just going to start off by saying this lineup was a pretty smart move in putting this tour together as they are all very similar but unique in their own ways, which obviously really brought out the overall experience for the tour.

The night opened up with DED, which consists of bandmates Joe Cotela, David Ludlow, Matt Reinhard, and Kyle Koelsch. I never really got into this band, and that Tuesday night was my first introduction to DED and right off the bat I couldn't help but notice they sounded a lot like PAP ROACH which was pretty cool and definitely had the “Nu-Metal”/“Metalcore” vibe to them. These guys came out with so much energy as the set opened up with "Hate Me", one of DEDs’ most popular songs. (Which I can totally see why)

Frontman Joe Cotela paced back and forth on stage so fast I could barely even catch up…I don't think I've ever seen someone move that fast, honestly! He knew exactly what to do to get these fans pumped and ready for one hell of a night. I have to admit I was super impressed. DED is definitely one of those bands that are on the rise and I wouldn't miss out on catching them when they come to your town. Seriously, these guys are going to blow up soon… mark my words!

Another band I really never got into and was finally introduced with that night is BLACK VEIL BRIDES. And first of all, where the hell have I been, under a rock? BLACK VEIL BRIDES is literally one of those bands that are right up my alley in music taste. If you know me, you know I have a weak spot for some good ol’ punk rock and shaggy haired/heavy eyeliner emo bands so I am seriously EXTREMELY disappointed I missed out on seeing this band before.

Singer Andy Biersack (also known as Andy Black) hit the stage with his horns immediately in the air followed by Jinxx, Jake Pitts, Christian Coma and Lonny Eagleto as the intro blasted off with "Scarlet Cross". You could instantly feel the ground start to shake with how everyone was eager to get closer to the stage and in that exact moment, I noticed a big ass smile appear on my face and I felt that amazing feeling of “rock shows are finally back”. The crowd was so happy too, you could easily tell everyone under that roof felt as if they were finally at home, in their happy place, and most of all finally able to rock out and scream along with music again. I don't even know how else to describe it other than just pure bliss.

"Faithless", "Coffin", and "Rebel Love Song" followed with even more loudness as the ‘Black Veil Bride Army' began to emerge from the crowd. I never noticed how much of a fan base these guys draw in, but it was incredible to see. The set followed with lots of headbanging and tons of interaction from singer Andy Black and at one point he had the crowd put all their lit-up phones in the air to add to the mood during one of their slow paced songs. As always, the crowd went wild once they came back onstage for their last encore of the night, "In The End", and all you can hear was chants and excited screams (mainly from the ladies in the crowd) as BLACK VEIL BRIDES kicked back into the song for one last jam with the fans. Each member of the band connected and played so well with each other which obviously transferred into the crowd and that made it so much more awesome to witness. The band definitely brought a massive arena rock show into a smaller sized music theater with the sound, energy, and overall performance that night and I absolutely loved being able to watch and photograph it all from the crowd, it was truly such an awesome experience.

Just moments before IN THIS MOMENT arrived on stage you can feel the excitement in the air yet again as the crowd got closer and closer together as they waited for the huge Black Widow banner to drop from the front of the stage while jamming out and singing along to everyone's favorite filler song - "Don't Stop Believing" by JOURNEY. As the banner finally plunged to the floor, Houston was finally greeted by IN THIS MOMENT with an incredible STEVE MILLER BAND cover, "Fly Like An Eagle".

As many are aware, IN THIS MOMENT thrives on being the best when it comes to live performances and personally, in my experience of seeing them so many times, each tour gets more and more visually creative. They set the bar high each time they come up with a new tour performance and singer Maria Brink absolutely kills it on set each time to make it such an eye-catching show.

Maria and her dancers along with bandmates Chris Howorth (who was not able to make it out on tour this year), Travis Johnson, Randy Weitzel, and Kent Diimmel put every ounce of creativity into each and every performance and I'm pretty sure every concert-loving human attending walks away amazed and stunned by it. The night was filled with so many highlights from previous albums Blood, Ritual and the obvious several hits from the newest album Mother which was released just last year. (Full Album Review HERE)

Each song played had its own incredible experience, which left you eagerly awaiting “what's next” the whole show. Ending the night with favorites, "Big Bad Wolf", "Adrenalize", and "Whore", the set as a whole was nothing less than incredible as the final songs came to an end with bursts of smoke and large red and black balloons that filled the venue and made a lot of crowd attenders stoked to have something to leave with.

I don't know about you, but IN THIS MOMENT is always going to be at the top of my list when it comes to the best band performances of all time. I mean how could it not be? Visually speaking, you can't help but pick your jaw up off the floor once the show is over. And talk about merch, IN THIS MOMENT has some of the most badass merch options I've ever seen. From, "Whore" dunce caps, tees, joggers, hats, and masks… There's just so many wicked cool things to choose from and It was pretty cool seeing a lot of the ladies in the crowd reppin’ the "Whore" caps the whole night. ‘The In Between Tour’ was just such a fantastic show to witness, I can't even explain that enough and even though I wasn't able to get a full on photo pass as I was hoping for ITM, I'm still thankful to have been able to see it and was still able to catch a few photos on my phone from the back of the crowd just to show a small glimpse of how badass the whole set was for this tour.

BLACK VEIL BRIDES Setlist:

• "Scarlet Cross"
• "Faithless"
• "Coffin"
• "Rebel Love Song"
• "Goodbye Agony"
• "Overture"
• "Shadows Die"
• "Beautiful Remains"
• "The Legacy"
• "Wretched And Divine"
• "Sweet Blasphemy"
• "Knives And Pens"
• "Fallen Angels"
• "In The End"