HATEBREED – 30TH ANNIVERSARY HOMETOWN FEST – THE OAKDALE
By Daniel Jackson
So much can be said about when a community of artists and promoters come together to create something massive like the show that took place at The Oakdale in Wallingford, CT on Sunday March 17th. A nearly 8 hour metal matinee laced with some of the hardest hitting bands to perfectly fit this disgustingly monstrous bill! The parking lot filled up fast and the lines were long as early as noon. Nothing was stopping people from partaking in this much talked about Connecticut Hatebreed hometown show. One thing is for sure, these fans are indeed as diehard as they come.
The first band to kick down the doors was DemonScar from Long Island. They wasted no time brutalizing the crowd in The Dome with chugging riffs and a “we are here and in your face” taste of aggression. This show was expected to be one for the books from the flyer alone, but to have a line up with a band like this opening and setting the bar for the night really locks in the mindset and excitement level for all those that came to throwdown.
Next to take the stage were Eyes Of The Living from Philly. What a display of thrashy goodness! This four piece lineup played to an already packed house and they were only the second band of the day at 1:10 pm. Mercilessly, they pumped out song after song to this thoroughly captivated audience. The band was locked in and sounded to be incredibly well put together. You can tell that these guys definitely put in the work and people were loving every second of it.
First of the Connecticut hometown heavy hitters was Dead By Wednesday, who had recently released their full length album Capital Conspiracy through Salt Of The Earth Records. These CT monsters brought aggression and a certification of violence as a reminder to everyone in attendance that CT metal is not to be fucked with. These guys have been sharing stages with Hatebreed since the early days and there is a reason that they were asked to play this show. Every heart pounding, pit causing, middle finger giving, crowd engaging moment of their performance was undeniably the reason why they were there.
Sworn Enemy was first on the theater stage. Even though the doors had just opened up, the crowd flooded in with everyone trying to be the first on the floor for their set. The band took the stage right on time and proceeded to bring the kind of high energy, high intensity, hardcore performance that you would expect or even demand of a band taking a stage of that size. Not a still body in that sea of headbangers. The power and the force that these dudes from NY brought was just what this theater stage needed to kick things off the right way in honor of Hatebreed and Jamey Jasta who helped Sworn Enemy get their start.
Back to The Dome stage for more hometown heavy with Connecticut’s very own With Honor. As to be assumed of any band of this caliber, the riffs were on point, the heartfelt and aggressive vocal delivery was next level and the drummer kept these guys sounding incredible with his ferocious precision and power. You could tell this was a band that no one wanted to miss because the room filled back up with a quickness as they hit the stage and that’s not something that often happens when the access to the main stage has already opened up. They absolutely killed it! No animals were harmed in the destruction of this stage!.
100 Demons made a point of reminding everyone that this party was far from over. Chugging their way through the set on The Theater stage like a well oiled machine, these Connecticut locals kept the CT hardcore vibe rolling as the fists and feet were flying in the pit. Oftentimes show goers will save their energy for the headliners–not this time! Not with this band! Start to finish, the crowd was in it and it was clear the band wouldn’t have it any other way by the way their music demanded it!
The moment had finally come for a lot of people as Shadow Of Intent had just hit the stage as the last act in The Dome by being the brutal band they are known for being. They didn’t disappoint at all. As another Connecticut favorite, there was no limit to the love this band was getting from their audience. They command a kind of crowd interaction that many bands could only dream of. Literally no band better fit to prepare everyone in attendance for what they were about to experience with the final 2 bands of the night. These guys could sell out show after show on their own with the talent that they have collectively but to put them on an already stacked line up like this is insanity!
The Dome became a ghost town as everyone flooded into The Theater for Shadows Fall. Not a single person looking anywhere other than to the stage as the Massachusetts metal legends stepped into the darkness. Photographers locked and loaded and security prepared to do their best to contain the madness, the band let loose on every man, woman and child in the building. Dreads were flying as the band dominated every inch of the stage. The drums and bass were so locked in and so powerful you could feel it in your bones. The guitarists, once again showing us why Shadows Fall will forever hold the title as one of the New England metal greats, did it one shredding lead after another. These guys are mind blowing good!
The end of the night had arrived and so had everyone’s excitement for what was about to come. Hatebreed takes the stage with a kind of fury that can only be described as the Hatebreed way of doing things. Blood had been shed in the pit at this point and with these guys hitting the stage, more was sure to come. The crowd erupted into chaos as Hatebreed painted a picture of a 30 year story of Connecticut Hardcore one song at a time. With it being their guitarist Wayne’s birthday, the love was real in that room and the only way you show love to a band like Hatebreed and its members is by giving back the energy that they worked so hard to give you over the years. That’s exactly what happened here! 60+ minutes of madness.
To be part of something like this as a band, artist, promoter, vendor, photographer, writer or even as someone there to just simply enjoy the experience makes you feel like you did something special. That you lived in a moment that won’t be relived. Sure, there will be other great shows with a bunch of great bands, but there will never be another Hatebreed 30th Anniversary Hometown show.
Editor’s note: Guest reporter Daniel Jackson is a major player in the Ct. music scene. He’s the bassist for the amazing Casting Shadows and a rep for the prodigious Salt Of The Earth Records. in addition, he’s a genuinely great guy and an immense asset to the hard rock community in the Northeast. We at AMP are hoping for more insightful features like this one from Daniel.
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