Lineup: Wolves at the Gate (Cedarville, OH), Before Their Eyes (Findlay, OH), Write This Down (Minneapolis, MN), Children 18:3 (Morris, MN), Come Wind (Canton, OH), Dangerkids (Dayton, OH), Far From Abandoned (Plain City, OH)

This show was super packed, so I’m going to skip the pleasantries and jump straight to the bands.  Plain City’s Far From Abandoned kicked off the show with a hard hitting four song set that succeeded in getting the pit riled up despite the early set time. “Heathens”, a song frequently requested on RadioU’s Hardcore show was enjoyable.

Dayton’s Dangerkids took the stage in what can only be described as the biggest surprise of the night.  This was a good surprise, of course.  The group features ex-members from Let’s Get It and This Love, among others. Their genre blends electronic and hardcore, with a touch of hip hop.  Dual lead vocalists give the band commanding stage presence.  The band’s performance was frankly so tight that I was shocked to learn that this was their first live show as Dangerkids! I could see this band going a long way, fitting in well with genre counterparts (in a very rough sense of the word) such as Attack Attack! and Abandon All Ships.

Come Wind figuratively slowed things down a bit.  They were still hard hitting in their own way, choosing at times to have every band member on some form on percussion.  These guys were on the bill mainly on account of sharing management and friendship with Wolves at the Gate, but they definitely deserved to be there on account of musicianship.  They would be a better fit as an opener for a band like Paper Route, Mutemath, or a number of more alternative, ambient bands however.

Children 18:3 played one of the most entertaining sets of the night, spreading their set list across their discography pretty evenly.  Highlights included “Cover Your Eyes” and “Lost So Long” from Rain’s a Comin’ and “Mock the Music” from their self-titled.  The crowd also responded positively to cuts like “I Tried to Do The Right Thing” and “Moment to Moment” from On the Run.  Overall, the band displayed incredible energy and it was a treat to finally see them in a venue worthy of that energy – not that any of their other shows were bad because of the venue, not at all! They closed their set with the catchy “Oh, Bravo” and the trio wrapped up.

Write This Down is one of those mysterious Christian hard rock bands that doesn’t seem to speak out or tour as much.  I wish they did, as they have the stage presence to commandeer an audience of most sizes into a frenzy.  The band criticized sometimes for being all over the map with their rock sound went for a decidedly heavy approach this time around.  New songs “Red 7” and “Crash and Burn” made appearances amongst older songs like “Redemption,” “Renegade,” and likely their best known hit “Alarm the Alarm.”  Bottom line: Write This Down needs to be more popular than they are.

Before Their Eyes kicked off their set much like on their new Redemption record with an intro, followed by current RadioU single “Lies.”  This band was probably the least flashy of the night but was able to commandeer the crowd just as well as their predecessors in the show.  Other hits “Life Was All A Dream” and “Sing to Me” followed, along with oldie “Why is 6 Afraid of 7” and new song “Backstabber.”  I noticed that lead vocalist Nick Moore was having trouble staying in tune but credit has to be given to a guy that handles all the clean vocals and rough vocals in a live setting, no easy task.  The band overall could have performed tighter but I’ll chalk that up to them coming out of a dormant period with few live performances.  They ended their set with “City in a Snow Globe” to the audience’s delight.

Wolves at the Gate opened their set appropriately with their new cut “Awaken.”  The pit exploded, needless to say.  “The Harvest” and “Heralds” followed, with the pit exploding even more, as if that were possible.  As with their previous Columbus show, one of the most worship-laden moments came in “Oh the Depths.”  The soft-starting “Slaves” was another highlight of the set that provided more worship from the pit.  Guitarist and clean vocalist took some time to share a heartfelt Gospel message, placing special emphasis on the dichotomy humans face between mercy and justice – that is, we want justice when someone wrongs us, but mercy when we wrong someone. The only thing that can solve this problem is Jesus Christ, who died for our sins, allowing God to be just and merciful at once in regard to this problem of sin.  It was a great message that resulted in much cheering and applause.  “Dead Man” and “Amnesty” ended the main set, with former vocalist Colin Jones helping out on the latter.  The encore consisted of oldie “No Rival” and Captors album ender “Man of Sorrows” which has the guys of Come Wind helping out on percussion.  Overall it was a fantastic show and Wolves at the Gate is at the top of their game.  The only direction for them to go is up, with the guys deflecting the fame off themselves to their Creator along the way.