Ice Nine Kills, In This Moment Brought a Bloody Good Time to Dubuque

A quartet of talented heavy metal bands gave Dubuque and Tri-State residents a show to remember on Saturday, August 10th, delivering what might've been the best and most elaborate concert the area has and will see all summer long.

Q Casino + Resort's Back Waters Stage was the site of another huge show, which included four bands performing over the course of four hours. Those bands were TX2, Avatar, Ice Nine Kills, and In This Moment, and they treated a couple thousand attendees to an awesome show filled with props, smoke, spectacle, and outstanding music.

On a night that was made even more perfect by ideal weather (low 70s that dropped to the mid-50s by nightfall), TX2 was the first band on a crowded Back Waters Stage. The stage was loaded with four bands' worth of equipment, props, gear, smoke machines, and more.

TX2 expressed gratitude that Saturday's crowd was one of the biggest him and his band ever played. They were filled with energy and heart, and made it clear their music isn't for "the cool kids." Their music is for the "outcasts and the queer." They had a blast and that definitely aided the vibe of the venue.

Next on the Back Waters Stage was Avatar, a Swedish heavy metal band led by Johannes Eckerström. Eckerström was a total riot. He reminded me of a young Alice Cooper as he encouraged the audience, joked with them, and expressed his love for Dubuque.

This was the band's first time in the area, and at multiple points, Eckerström said he wanted to come back. He welcomed all in attendance to "join the circus," and marveled that Dubuque "smelled like a freak show." What a dude, what a character. Color me a new fan of Avatar.

I've been eagerly anticipating Ice Nine Kills' Dubuque performance for months, namely because my girlfriend, Catherine, is a die-hard fan. She's put me onto them in recent time, and the fact that we're both horror movie fans made it easy to embrace them.

Ice Nine Kills famously uses classic horror movies like Psycho, Friday the 13th, and Scream as the basis for songs. Their stage-business is elaborate too, for they have a copious amount of props, prosthetic arms, fake blood, fake chainsaws, and more to reenact scenes from several movies.

Ice Nine Kills was a whirlwind, and it says something about their popularity when the day after they performed in Dubuque, they were opening for Metallica at Soldier Field in Chicago. Any horror movie fan will almost certainly appreciate their craft, which marries melodic metal with the art, scares, and screams of horror movies.

Finally, night had overtaken the area and In This Moment was set to go on to close the night. Close it they did. They were loud, they were huge, and they took the stage production capabilities of the Back Waters Stage to a whole other level.

Beyond the band's operatic compositions, detailed costumes, and impressive screaming capabilities, In This Moment knows how to conjure up an atmosphere. The lighting and smoke effects that were pervasive throughout their sets encouraged you to lean forward and take it all in.

During the band's finale, their huge song "Whore," two enormous confetti blasts, strong enough to reach beyond the Turpin Tailgate section and into GA, were fired. This was already on top of a number of balloons that were unleashed into the crowd during the performance of "Whore." What a finale. What a group. What a great time on Q Casino's Back Waters Stage.

Until next time, I'll see you at one of these upcoming shows on the Back Waters Stage:

• Disturbed and Plush will be performing on Wednesday, August 28th.
• Riley Green brings another great country show to the area on Thursday, August 29th.