Concert Recap: "Who Needs A F***ing Stage," ft. The Day We Confess, A Shelter For Holly + The Eighth Circle
It's always great to get a look at what's coming next from local artists, and the future looks bright for these bands
Over the past several months, the Eagle’s Dare in downtown Wilmington, NC as become one of my favorite local music spots — aside from the punk-inspired aesthetic, the venue makes for an intimate concert experience for both local and touring artists. One of the main attractions of the venue is the absence of a stage, allowing the artists to feed off the energy of the audience even more by being on the same level as them. This design has also made for a monthly concert series that showcases the eclectic local music scene here in North Carolina, appropriately titled “Who Needs a F***ing Stage.” Last month’s local showcase focused on the post-hardcore/death metal subgenres, with Wilmington’s own The Day We Confess as the headliner, with support coming from A Shelter For Holly and The Eighth Circle.
The first band on the 3-act bill to play was The Eighth Circle, another Wilmington-based group. Their social media bios stating that they make “music to butcher your enemies to” is a very accurate way to describe their sound, with punishing riffs and high energy stage (or lack of a physical stage) presence. I hadn’t heard of this band before and this was my first time seeing them, but I can see why they were on the bill and they were a great band to kick the night off.
In the middle was A Shelter For Holly, a death metal quartet that’s made quite the name for themselves. I’ve seen these guys many times over the last couple years, and have always been impressed with how well they’ve been able to engage the crowd and get everybody moving. I’ve seen them as headliners, I’ve seen them as the first band on the bill, and each time they’ve always had the same energy, enthusiasm, and love for performing, and this night was no different. This show also marked the band’s final performance with bassist Andy Hewett, who moved on to pursue other aspirations. There was probably no better sendoff, because the crowd seemed to love every second of their set for as long as it lasted.
The Day We Confess had the crowd in the palm of their hands from the very beginning, and they quickly appeared to feed off of that energy throughout their performance. I’ve seen the band a few times as support for bands like Waking Tera, Alesana, and Dropout Kings, and they’ve gotten better each time out. Seeing them perform in their hometown as headliners was a cool experience, and you could tell how much their fanbase loved them, singing along to every song word-for-word one after the other. It’s been almost a year since the last time I saw them live, and this was without a doubt their strongest performance yet.
The band played the entirety of their Fragments EP, along with the single “Deceiver” and some unreleased material, and the band’s energy never waned — regardless of how long their set lasted, the band played with the same level of liveliness and excitement that they had when they first stepped out to play. Getting to see them perform without a stage was also a reminder of just how big this band is, featuring seven members. Arguably the largest band in the area, they made the most of what space they had and still somehow had room to move around relatively freely.
Those who were in the crowd that night were treated to a celebration of what the band has released so far, as well as a taste of what’s to come in the future from the throwback post-hardcore/metalcore act. The new material sounded very promising, and from the sound of it, the future seems bright for this band. I’ve become a bigger fan of this band with each time I’ve seen them, and this last performance was my favorite set of theirs so far. After that, I’m even more excited to hear new music from them, and I can’t wait to see them open for Deadlands in Jacksonville this November.
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