Cane Hill, Afterlife, and VCTMS stopped by The Sanctuary to support the Krewe Du Sang Tour with special local guests A Different Perspective and Engrave.
A mix of hard metal and soft, almost melodic, vocals started the evening as A Different Perspective took the stage. The Michigan-based special guest quartet set the tone for the evening by ensuring everyone was ready to head bang along with their music.
Up next was another Michigan native band, Engrave. They started the set by telling everyone in the crowd to “move up two feet or open the pit up.” After some warming up, the crowd was ready to go. They were then encouraged to “keep up the energy for the rest of the night.” Engrave had a respectable size audience who knew the lyrics and they impressed the rest of the crowd with their high-energy performance. With openers Moodring sitting out part of the tour due to Covid, VCTMS, of Chicago, were up next. Just a week and a half after making their festival debut at So What?! Music Fest in Dallas, they showed up ready to show Detroit exactly who they are. They started their set with “What Doesn’t Kill You” from their 2021 album Vol. 4 Numb the Ache. This song set the mood for headbanging, moshing, and enjoying the metal music. They ended their set with “Sinister” from Sickness Vol 1, which was dedicated to “all the OGs out there.” They earned the screams and cheers as they exited the stage. Up next was Afterlife from West Palm Beach. As they set up their gear, the 186-capacity venue started to fill up more. Opening in the former location of the local treasure, Paycheck’s Lounge, The Sanctuary moved to Hamtramck in 2018. Hamtramck is a small city located in an enclave within Detroit. Now considered a staple in the Hamtramck music scene, the non-profit venue is full of life and high-energy at every show. The set from Afterlife proved this as much as ever. Less than two weeks after also performing at So What?! the whole band was able to bring festival-level energy to the show.They started their set with “Misfit Anthem” from the album Part of Me. They maintained their high-intensity performance until they took a break to talk to the crowd. The singer, Tyler Levenson, gave an earnest message about his own personal struggles with depression and abuse before they started to play “Broken Home.” This somber message did not deter the intensity of the crowd as the show continued. They ended the lively show with “Giving Back the Pain” from their album Breaking Point.
Next up on stage was Cane Hill from New Orleans. The show started out with “Kill Me” from the album Krewe De La Mort, Vol. 1. Between songs, the singer, Elijah Witt, paused to thank everyone for coming out for their first US tour in over two years. As they continued the set, they took a long pause after “Power of the High” for a special shoutout to the drummer, Devin Clark. The night of the show was Devin’s birthday and this called for a break for tequila shots. The set continued with pauses between songs for tequila squirt-gun shots for Devin for the rest of the set.When the set ended with “Too Far Gone,” the crowd was not done yet, and encouraged them to continue. The requests worked to get an encore of “Time Bomb.” The show was well-received by the crowd and the band had a fun night too. This was a fun outing with three touring bands who all played at So What?! in town for one night to bring the feeling of the festival to the small town of Hamtramck.
CANE HILL
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AFTERLIFE
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VCTMS
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ENGRAVE
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