Concert Recap: Waking Tera in Jacksonville, NC (June 9, 2023)

On June 9, hometown legends Waking Tera tore up the Hooligans Live stage (musically, of course) in Jacksonville, NC at their first headlining show in the venue since last October’s “Haunting at Hooligans” event. This time around, they brought some local and regional friends along with them to join the party – while each band sounded different from each other, it goes to show how music can bring people together, along with how much talent can be found within the local circuit.

Kicking things off was local quartet Bridge to Breakdown, a group that specializes in the blending of genres. Sonically, their set consisted of a blend of hard rock, blues, alternative, modern stoner rock, and everything in between – they even took a break from the hard-hitting and serious material to play Simple Plan’s iconic theme song to the What’s New Scooby Doo? series. Another source of comedic relief came from their banter between songs, from playfully referring to themselves as the “food at home” of the lineup to making jokes about how Bob the Builder and Jack the Ripper have the same middle name. They were a great band to start the night, with both captivating tunes and hilarious crowd interaction.

Up next was Dinosaurs in Paris, an easycore group from Shippensburg, Pennsylvania. Musically, they were a stark contrast to Bridge to Breakdown – while Bridge to Breakdown had a pretty heavy hard rock sound throughout their set, Dinosaurs in Paris harmoniously walked the line between pop-punk and metalcore/post-hardcore. I found it very fitting that vocalist Louis Dejoie was wearing a 2006 Taste of Chaos shirt, because Dinosaurs in Paris would’ve fit right in on that bill, with fun and upbeat songs like “Cold Feet” and “I Can’t Remember” along with songs that dabble on the heavier side like “Surface.” Their stage show was about as fun as their music, with the band throwing beach balls into the crowd, which made their way through the venue for the rest of the night – for a show at the beginning of summer, it’s safe to say the band understood the assignment. While they’re from Pennsylvania, the band gained a bunch of new fans here in eastern North Carolina, and here's hoping they’ll be back at Hooligans again in the near future.

Waking Tera hit the stage and immediately set the tone by ripping into their most recent banger, “The Last Campaign” (PERFECT opening song for them too), complete with dark lights and heavy use of smoke geysers. By the end of the first couple songs, the fog machines were used so much that it got difficult to see the band, especially drummer Mike Mitchell, but nonetheless, they sounded fantastic – out of the times I’ve seen the band over the past year and a half, this was probably their tightest performance musically, as well as one of KP’s best vocal performances. 

As far as setlists go, Waking Tera pulled out all the stops – from newer tracks like “Forgotten Lore” and the upcoming “Beautiful Crash” (dropping July 18) to familiar favorites like “Capture” and “Miss Demise” and even their trademark cover of Limp Bizkit’s “Break Stuff,” it was a very fun selection of songs. As a hardcore fan, I’m personally still holding out hope for the day they play “Beast of Revelation,” but nonetheless I had no complaints about what they played that night. It was great to see the crowd singing along to each song one after the next, whether it was “Nothing” or “Sounds Like Sirens.” 

Long story short, it’s always a fun night seeing the guys in Waking Tera do their thing in their hometown. They have some more shows lined up at Hooligans, with the next one being a supporting slot for Ukrainian metalcore giants Jinjer on August 8. For tickets, click here or hit up the band on social media and buy them directly from Waking Tera. See you there!

Waking Tera Setlist:

1. The Last Campaign

2. Dark Passenger

3. Miss Demise

4. Nothing

5. Breathe

6. Capture

7. Beautiful Crash

8. Forgotten Lore

9. Edify

10. Sounds Like Sirens

11. Sin of Omission

12. Break Stuff (Limp Bizkit cover)

Support the bands by checking out the following links:

- Bridge to Breakdown: https://linktr.ee/bridge2breakdown

- Dinosaurs in Paris: https://dinosinparis2020.wixsite.com/dinosaursinparis

- Waking Tera: https://wakingtera.com/

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