Last night's show at Spaceboy Clothing on Market St, Wilmington, DE went off like all All Age punk rock shows should! But not without it's share of hardships and hassles. The show was originally set for Kelly's Logan House but after the del.AWARE shows got the boot from the venue we decided to act like a bunch of punks and take all future shows with us. A way of "thanking" the venue for their lack of support and confidence in what we were trying to accomplish. Not fill a venue, not make money, but to build something bigger than all of that.
So shortly after "losing" Upstairs at Kellys, we were offered a really amazing opportunity to book shows at Wonderland Records in Newark, DE. Right across the street from the UD campus. It sounded too good to be true, and it was. We had already moved the show to the record store just in time for Record Store Day and were totally booked out til June with a handful of amazing shows when we received the news from the shop that the City had already been in contact with them about shutting down our operation. Apparently the shop did not have the right permits and zoning requirements to host Live Entertainment and the inspector was quick to threaten us if we didnt call off the event.
With just 7 days to figure out what to do, we decided to move the event to Spaceboy. Although we have had a few shows there already, we were trying to find an alternative full time venue as well as taping into the UD and Newark community.
With a 2nd venue change to a completely different town, I was a bit skeptical of our turnout, especially because our shows are still so new to the area, they havent really taken off yet. 6pm start time was looking a bit rough. Only a couple of people showed and The Incited had yet to show up.
Robots and Racecars went on after a few more folks showed up and they went on with their full professional act as expected. My band played with them before and it was the same deal, despite the situation, R&R always plays in full force and did not disappoint. I really enjoyed their set and they seemed to have had a good time.
Honah Lee had been back and forth between Spaceboy and Shennanigans all afternoon and were well prepared to have a good time regardless but at this time the shop was getting filled up, the last band had shown up with a crew, and the greatest icebreaker of all had arrived.... The Beer. honestly, after the beer showed up and everybody had a few drinks in them, the party really took off. The band was a riot and put on a short but dynamic set that was sure to make a lasting impression on the city of Wilmington.
The Incited came out to do what they've done for many years and what they do best. Put on a killer Punk Rock Performance. Complete with crowd pleasing sing-a-longs and aggressive melodies, I was quite impressed with what this band had to offer and when all was said and done, I looked back on the evening with a sense of pride and accomplishment. I was really happy with the way the night turned out. Despite all the stress that went into the event, it quickly went away and I went home happy knowing that Wilmington just witnessed a straight up all age underground punk show.
So with all that said, let's do it again next week.
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