By Cariad Craig-Hunt
The Acacia Strain, a 5 piece metal core band from Chicopee, Massachusetts hit The Thekla, Bristol on January 29th. The fan base must’ve been excited to experience this incredible band on a former cargo ship, because I know I was! This was my first time on Bristol’s very own Thekla, so I was more than ready to get the night started.
The first act up was Brothers Till We Die, rearing to warm up the crowd. The crowd was full of hip-hop/rap fans, all wearing streetwear and merch from multiple of the upcoming bands.
The first song they played was blood for blood, from their album ‘Touch These Wounds, I Came Back From Death’, which they released in 2019. This song seemed to be a crowd favourite as they instantly start ‘moshing’.
After an excellent opener, I was intrigued as to whether the next band could one up this!
Next up were a band called Deez Nuts. I’ve got to say, the name really did surprise me and I was curious as to what type of music they might play. They kicked off with their song, ‘popular demand’, which had me wondering if this was going to be a popular demand at their future gigs. I instantly noticed that their genre is definitely more hardcore than rap which I initially thought, which was a pleasant surprise.
Deez nuts was a hit with the crowd, but now it’s time for Unity TX, a hardcore/hip hop rap band from Dallas, Texas. The energy from the vocalist, Jay Webster, was already enough to get the crowd roaring. They started off with their popular hit, CROSS ME. This was from their album, ‘MADBOY’, which they released in 2019.
Unity TX seemed to have a strong fan base, as Jay Webster jumped straight into the crowd to mosh alongside them all, putting full faith that his fans will have his back if he fell.
As it reached around 9:30pm, it was now time for the band everyone had been waiting for…The Acacia Strain. Instantly, lead vocalist, Vincent Bennett jumps on stage singing ‘Beast’- from their album ‘Wormwood’ which is one of their oldest albums from 2010.
Their what’s called ‘OG’ fans (original fans) loved hearing one of their old classics, as two men ran straight to the front of the stage singing their hearts out with Vincent.
I’ve got to say, overall the night was an amazing surprise to me. The Thekla will now forever be one of my favourite venues and I’ve found some new incredible bands I can listen to.
