Concert Recap: Eric Raven's "Five Days in the Sunset" Tour in Wilmington, NC (March 21, 2025)

2025 has been off to a slow start in terms of concerts — with my hometown venue, Hooligans Live, going through renovations since the beginning of the year and not a lot of bands touring within striking distance at the moment, the past few months has been the least active concert period I've had since the pandemic shutdowns. After breaking the 2025 concert seal with seeing my favorite artist, Alice Cooper, in Greensboro, NC at the beginning of February, I've been itching to get back out to another show as soon as possible. A month and a half later, my next show allowed me to reconnect with some of my favorite locals and make some new regional acquaintances.

This past weekend, I was able to make the drive down to Wilmington, NC for the penultimate stop of Eric Raven's "Five Days in the Sunset Tour" — accompanied by Philly hardcore phenoms God Called in Sick, the NJ-based industrial darkwave artist has been on my radar since last year after their fall tour with the local legends Defile the Crown. After seeing coverage from their joint run last year, I knew I'd have to jump on the chance to see them whenever they came close to the area, and I'm glad I did — the whole night was a nonstop frenzy of heavy music and it's safe to say the regional acts quickly found a new home here in the Carolinas.

Opening the festivities was the djent-duo Radiant Dimensions, who have been working nonstop since their live debut almost a year ago. The guitar tag-team of Emilio Henriquez and Logan Ballard haven't wasted any time making a reputation for themselves over the past ten months, consistently playing shows in the eastern NC area, and cultivating a loyal local following. Fresh off the release of their full-length album Low Hanging Fruit, Radiant Dimensions got the night started on the right foot with their blend of instrumental prowess and Ballard's intense vocals.

I've seen Radiant Dimensions live many times over the past year, and it's been awesome seeing them continue to improve with each show. They've gotten much more comfortable on stage, and I firmly believe that last weekend's show was their best one yet. I don't know how Ballard is able to catch his breath between talking to the audience after each song and the general vocal demands of the group's material, but he never seems to skip a beat. My favorite parts of their set are the moments in which Ballard joins Henriquez on guitar and they musically lock in with their guitar harmonies. As someone who's a technically-inept guitarist, it's always fun to watch them perform the instrumental sections of their catalog. After a month and a half of no live music, this was a great way to get the streak started again.

God Called in Sick took the stage next, immediately bringing the Philly hardcore style down south to the Carolinas. While their name may suggest an AFI-inspired sound, they made it clear from the opening chords that they're much heavier than even the most musically spiteful era of AFI's hardcore punk years. That being said, their set instantly kicked the audience into high gear, a state that they’d end up being in for the rest of the night. Their setlist consisted of tracks from their debut EP Scared to Be Here, with their sonic variety shining through during their short time on stage — from the trippiness of songs like “Spinning” and “Burn Rinse” to the sheer rage of cuts like “Write Off” and “Virgin Kenzo Nightmare,” the crowd brought an insane energy and the audience responded with the same intensity.

One thing about The Barzarre is that it’s a very intimate venue, so it’s very easy to get caught in the middle of moshing, especially since it doesn’t take much for the pit action to expand from wall to wall. During God Called in Sick’s set, the audience understood the assignment and quickly embraced that Philly energy — as someone who had never heard of this band until the show was announced, I also became a fan in no time. Between their stage presence and the crowd response, it felt just like watching an established local act playing to fans that have seen them countless times.

That energy continued for Eric Raven as well, who was also running sound for this show. The rhythm section was rounded out with one half of God Called in Sick too, with drummer Nicholas Santangelo staying behind the kit and guitarist Joe Camel taking over bass duties. Out of this entire lineup, I would argue that Raven was the musical outlier of the bill — their music likely contained the most clean vocals out of the four bands that played, as well as the most electronic-inspired elements with their industrial blend of darkwave and metalcore. With that, the crowd was still amped for the music and kept that same upbeat energy and frenetic movement throughout their set.

As a photographer, I also have to talk about how fun of a challenge it was to photograph this set, and Eric in particular — Eric was constantly moving and almost NEVER stood still, even getting into the audience and passing the mic to fans for a good amount of the time. I've heard from photographer friends about their experiences with shooting highly-energetic artists like that (the most popular example I've heard is Tallah), so to finally experience that firsthand was a lot of fun.

From a musical standpoint, some of my favorite songs that made it to the setlist were “Last Time to Be Famous,” “Hold Me Now” (which, of course, was introduced with an acapella rendition of the chorus to Creed's “One Last Breath”), and the title track to their latest EP, “For Vanity Purposes.” Each song has a different feel to them, but the band still maintained the same ferocity from beginning to end. As I said earlier, this is a band that I've wanted to see for a little while, and now I can't wait to see them again in the hopefully near future.

A surprise guest set was teased for this show, and that surprise came in the form of a headlining set from local hardcore heroes Defile the Crown — while headlining wasn't the original intention, the band still blitzed through their set like it was nothing, even adding more songs due to the headliner timeslot, as well as the demand from the audience. Not only was I shocked at how much gas was still in the tank for the crowd, but I was also surprised by the energy from the band. Frontman Aaron Johnson is someone who likes to get in the pit, whether he's playing or not, and I'll never understand how he manages to perform a full set at the level that he does. Regardless, the band pulled it off, playing the entirety of the Razormouth EP along with a few covers, and they still left the fans wanting more.

Whether you're at a Defile the Crown show, or really any show taking place at The Barzarre in general, you know things are going to be rowdy. However, what's a lot of fun is seeing just how loyal the local support is. Every time I've been at this venue, I see a lot of the same faces, and they always show up in full force for every band on stage. They know all the words to the songs, and no matter how late it is, the moshers do what they do without skipping a beat. Especially after not going to shows for a longer time than normal, I had a lot of fun seeing the local music community doing their thing. Despite my mosh retirement status, I love the energy from the audience and it really makes for a more memorable experience, especially at intimate venues like Barzarre.

As previously mentioned, God Called in Sick and Eric Raven both quickly gained a lot of new fans in this area, so it was also really cool to see Raven join Defile the Crown (along with A Shelter for Holly vocalist Sam Friant) on stage during their cover of Bring Me the Horizon’s “Chelsea Smile.” While that could've been a strong note to end the night on, the crowd still demanded more songs, leading to the additions of “Frail” and my personal favorite song of theirs, “The Heavy Toll of Self Reflection.” If venue curfews didn't exist and the tour didn't have a show in Philadelphia, PA the next day, I'm sure they would've ended up breaking out some older tunes or maybe a couple more covers, but for this show, they had an extremely memorable set. For fans that didn't get enough that night, they're thankfully making a quick turnaround and headlining The Barzarre once again next Friday, April 4.

It can't be said enough, but smaller shows really are some of my favorites to go to. Not only do I have a blast seeing some familiar faces from show to show, but it's also a great way to get introduced to new music that you may never hear otherwise. Having been to The Barzarre a few times now, I can confidently say that this was my favorite show I've attended at that venue — from the bands to the crowd, this show fired on all cylinders and was the perfect way to come out of the involuntary concert hiatus I was in for the past month or so. Hearing the bands themselves say how great the show was and how this venue had the best audience of the tour was awesome too, and I can't wait to run it back with all of them in the hopefully not too distant future.

Thanks for reading! If you liked this article and want to keep up with more from me, feel free to subscribe