Article & photos by: Courtney Drake

INDIANAPOLIS, IN—The turnout for Cane Hill’s show in Indy on July 19th, the fourth out of eight headlining dates, was initially smaller than anyone had anticipated; that was easy to see from the relatively small group of people gathered outside the venue just before door times.

Even given this unexpected situation, Evansville natives Torn Confidence weren’t going to let that stop them from putting their all into their set. They did what they would have for a crowd of any size and worked tirelessly to hype up the audience, asking them to jump and go just as hard as they would for anyone else. Everyone around me seemed to enjoy their music and their presence, as multiple comments were made afterwards about how they were impressed with the local opener.

In Vein was up next, leaving an impression on the audience with their gothic looks and stage makeup. Their set wasn’t only a showcase of their musical capabilities, but it was also a bit of a theatrical performance. Because of this, they were a very interesting group to watch as well as hear, thus keeping the audience’s attention.

Keychain, coming all the way from Canada, was a bit of a genre deviation from all the other bands on the lineup. While they maintained rock as the primary element of their music, rap also seemed to be incorporated into a solid portion of it, which resulted in an intriguing blend of the two genres. The happiness and positive energy radiating from the band members spread easily to those in the audience, which was growing in number by now, and by the end of the set everyone in attendance seemed to be in a better mood than before.

Nine Shrines was a band that some fans had actually come to see, and it’s no mystery why. The chaotic aura put off by the band, especially the frontman, was enough to turn even the most boring and lazy crowd into one of energetic responses. There was even a guy who, at the end of Nine Shrines’ set, exclaimed, “What?! That’s it?!” I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that he was not alone in his disappointment.

My Enemies & I drew in a few fans of their own to fill up the empty spaces in the ever-growing crowd. They, similarly to In Vein, were theatrical with black contacts in their eyes and coffins acting as stage props. They had fans attempting to almost leap over those in front of them so that they could scream ME&I’s lyrics back to the vocalist, Jeff Hill. It was evident to the audience that he enjoyed seeing that, so of course it became even more of a mission to those trying to make it to the very front row.

The long awaited headliner Cane Hill, hailing from New Orleans, brought out the same type of craziness in their fans. People screamed their aggressive lyrics into the mic when frontman Elijah Witt held it out to the crowd for anyone to take vocal control of. He, like Jeff Hill, appeared to feed off of the energy and continued to do it. He even added a sort of comedic element to their time onstage by utilizing time between songs to crack jokes or respond to comments shouted from the crowd by Cane Hill fans. If you have the means, I recommend catching Cane Hill as support on HELLYEAH’s tour from July 25th – August 19th.