I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: May 25, 2025] Ice Nine Kills: Night 2

Two nights of 4 band metal shows is a lot.  So I am glad that we blew off the openers in night one.  I could have probably done with blowing some of them off tonight as well, but I enjoyed being closer to the stage, and that’s all that matters.

I knew that Nights 1 and 2 were going to be different (duh), but I was impressed at how much they changed from Night 1 to 2.  They didn’t rearrange the stage, but they changed the set dressing, making it a very different show.

The bass drum head went from circus themed to a bloody IX.  Instead of the glowing eyes under the drums, there was a banner that read Welcome to Horrorwood.  And for tonight, Spencer’s skeleton mic stand was front and center.  And the backdrop was changed from the Jason mask to the Horrorwood scene.

As always, they played Nick Cave’s Red Right Hand and then the intro to Horrorwood played over the speakers.

Like with The American Nightmare, the opening song Welcome to Horrorwood is super fun and catchy.

Given how we’ve seen INK a bunch lately, I was surprised at how many songs from this album we hadn’t seen before. Indeed, A Rash Decision and Assault & Batteries were new to me for live shows.

But one of my favorite bits is The Shower Scene.  I think they’ve played it every time we’ve seen them and the acting out, with the actual shower curtain and the stabbing through the curtain is just fantastic.

We were packed in really tight and it was hard to see and even harder to take pictures, so this show is a bit more visceral for me.  But we were also really close to the stage by the end of the night with Spencer in costume not all that far away.  There were video screens on either side of the drum riser and they broadcast complementary images (bloodsplattering, rain, etc).

I also noticted the horn section again.  Like last time, Reel Big Fish played horns on a number of songs, including the fantastic Hip to Be Scared, which actually quotes Huey Lewis and has the great pause of Hey Paul!  Before Spencer starts chopping someone up.

These songs also really show how good the band is.  I know that most of the reviews (including this one( focuses on the spectacle, but the guitarists are great–doing some seriously wicked solos (that tend to get overshadowed by the action on stage), and just some of the sound effects they produce are really perfect for this kind of show.

And then they played two more songs from this album that I hadn’t seen before, The Box (which had Spencer wearing the Hellraiser mask and which featured Reel Big Fish prominently) and F.L.Y.

I always enjoy Wurst Vacation if only for the intro Ein Zwei Drei Die.  This song also had the band members walking around with grotesque animal head masks over their heads–pretty horrifying.

And I always enjoy seeing the Evil Dead tribute. Spencer had the chainsaw hand and there was even a victim trying to escape from him.  It was Groovy!

But they ended the set with one more song I hadn’t seen live, the super creepy Farewell II Fles.  It was interrupted because of another injury (I thought that since it was the last song they might just finish it, but they were caring stewards and made sure that everyone was cool before finishing the set.

For the encore, they busted out The Nature of the Beast, a song about the book Animal Farm (I’d rather enjoy seeing a night of them playing all of their Every Trick in the Book album.  This album feels much heavier and screamier although they played another song from the album (this one about The Exorcist), which has a super catchy chorus.

Then it was the grand finale.   I did wonder if they’d playing the same finale as last night and they did. I also learned that the main character of Terrifier 3 is named Art the Clown,which makes the title Work of Art even funnier.

Once again Art came out on stage and they played with a baby (attached to the umbilical cord) and then Art kicked out the drummer and finished the set on a high note.

An Ice Nine Kills show is a full ob assault to the senses.  It’s really wonderful and a little overwhelming.  To see them two nights in a row is insane and although we loved it, it also had the result of both of us saying we never really needed to see them again.

I had seen a comment online that INK are milking their two albums and have nothing new to offer.  Well, aside from Work of Art, that might be true.  Are there that many more (worthwhile) horror movies to write songs about?  And if not, can they mix it up and still be able to do their thing?

I’m curious to see what comes next for them, although I’m not sure I’ll need to see it again.

But this two night screamathon was a blast for me, my son and his friends.

 

	Screamathon (NJ) Night 2	Screamathon (NJ) Night 1
	Welcome to Horrorwood: The Silver Scream 2	The Silver Scream
	Opening Night… [recording] $$	The American Nightmare $  [A Nightmare on Elm Street]
	Welcome to Horrorwood $$	Thank God It’s Friday $ [Friday the 13th]
	A Rash Decision $$ [Cabin Fever]	Stabbing in the Dark $ [Halloween]
	Assault & Batteries $$ [Child’s Play]	SAVAGES $ [The Texas Chain Saw Massacre]
	The Shower Scene $$ [Psycho]	The Jig Is Up $ [Saw]
	Funeral Derangements $$ [Pet Sematary]	A Grave Mistake $ [The Crow]
	Rainy Day $$ [Resident Evil]	Rocking the Boat $ [Jaws]
	Hip to Be Scared $$ [American Psycho]	Enjoy Your Slay $ [The Shining]
	Take Your Pick $$ [My Bloody Valentine]	Freak Flag $ [The Devil’s Rejects]
	The Box $$ [Hellrasier]	The World In My Hands $ [Edward Scissorhands]
	F.L.Y. $$ [The Fly]	Merry Axe-Mas $ [Silent Night, Deadly Night]
	Würst Vacation $$ [Hostel]	Love Bites $ [An American Werewolf in London]
	Ex-Mørtis $$ [The Evil Dead]	T is the End $ [It]
	Farewell II Flesh $$ [Candyman] (Track was interrupted during the bridge due to an injury in the crowd, then resumed after a delay.)	encore
	encore	Meat & Greet ♥ [Silence of the Lambs]
	The Nature of the Beast ß [Animal Farm]	The Greatest Story Ever Told ♦
	Communion of the Cursed ß [The Exorcist]	Work of Art §
	Work of Art §
		Note: Reel Big Fish played on multiple songs on both nights

§ single (2024)
♥ Welcome to Horrorwood: Under Fire edition (2023)
$$ The Silver Scream 2: Welcome to Horrorwood (2021)
$ The Silver Scream (2018)
ß Every Trick in the Book (2015)
⊗ The Predator Becomes the Prey (2014)
♦ Safe is Just a Shadow (2010)

2023 Reading	2022 Trilogy of Terror	2019 TLA
Hip to Be Scared $$ [American Psycho]	Opening Night… [recording] $$	Thank God It’s Friday $ [Friday the 13th]
Rainy Day $$ [Resident Evil]	Welcome to Horrorwood $$	The Jig Is Up $ [Saw]
Meat & Greet ♥ [Silence of the Lambs]	Würst Vacation $$ [Hostel]	SAVAGES $ [The Texas Chain Saw Massacre]
Ex-Mørtis $$ [The Evil Dead]	Hip to Be Scared $$ [American Psycho]	The Nature of the Beast ß [Animal Farm]
Rocking the Boat $ [Jaws ]	Stabbing in the Dark $ [Halloween]	The World In My Hands $ [Edward Scissorhands]
Stabbing in the Dark $ [Halloween]	Rainy Day $$ [Resident Evil]	Communion of the Cursed ß [The Exorcist]
The Fastest Way to a Girl’s Heart Is Through Her Ribcage ⊗	IT Is the End $ [IT]	A Grave Mistake $ [The Crow]
IT Is the End $ [IT]	Take Your Pick $$ [My Bloody Valentine]	Your Number’s Up $ [Scream]
Würst Vacation $$ [Hostel]	Ex-Mørtis $$ [The Evil Dead]	Rocking the Boat $ [Jaws ]
Funeral Derangements $$ [Pet Sematary]	The Shower Scene $$ [Psycho]	Merry Axe-Mas $ [Silent Night, Deadly Night]
Your Number’s Up $ [Scream]	Funeral Derangements $$ [Pet Sematary]	Thriller (Michael Jackson cover)
The American Nightmare $  [A Nightmare on Elm Street]	The American Nightmare $  [A Nightmare on Elm Street]	Hell in the Hallways ß [Carrie]
The Shower Scene $$ [Psycho]		Stabbing in the Dark $ [Halloween]
Welcome to Horrorwood $$		The Fastest Way to a Girl’s Heart Is Through Her Ribcage ⊗
		Love Bites $ [An American Werewolf in London]
		Tess‐timony ß [Tess of the d’Urbervilles]
		Me, Myself & Hyde ß [The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde]
		The American Nightmare $ [A Nightmare on Elm Street]
		encore
		IT is the End $ [It]