Strung Out and Death By Stereo kick off 4th of July weekend.
Strung Out at Sanctuary Detroit - All photos courtesy of Paul Holstein
It was a Wednesday night right before the 4th of July weekend, which would be filled with outdoor hardcore festivals and fireworks parties, so this was the perfect lead-in. We grabbed sushi on the way down and snagged the very last spot in the parking lot directly across from Sanctuary Detroit. It wasn't sold out, but it looked close. We arrived just after Frank White finished his set and Death By Stereo was setting up.
Death By Stereo at Sanctuary Detroit - All photos courtesy of Paul Holstein
This was only the second show on the tour, following the opening show in Chicago. I'd seen Death By Stereo several times before, the first time being at the Camp Anarchy festival in Ohio back in 2019. I knew they would be more likely to open up a mosh pit, and I wasn't disappointed. They did a shout-out to what they called the best hardcore band to ever come out of Detroit, Cold As Life, and then later also did a shout-out to Negative Approach.
Something that drew me to this show, as well as an amazing lineup, was the artwork on the flyer by Samuel Lucas. It's amazing, and after looking through his Instagram page, I noticed that he's worked with many of my other favorite bands (The Rumjacks, The Casualties, Lagwagon, Chaser, Authority Zero, Diesel Boy, and many more). If you get a chance to make it to one of the upcoming shows, be sure to pick up a shirt with Sam's artwork. You can also get more of his Strung Out artwork on their official site. I’ll be on the lookout for any of his future work and may even try to do an interview someday.
Strung Out at Sanctuary Detroit - All photos courtesy of Paul Holstein
This was a special show, with Strung Out slated to play their "Exile In Oblivion" album in its entirety for the 35th anniversary of the release. They started out with all 14 songs from "Exile In Oblivion" to a crowd that seemed to know every word to every song. After a short break, their encore included "New Gods" from their newest album, "Dead Rebellion," along with one of my favorites, "Too Close To See," from "Twisted By Design." A great show and a great lead-in to what should be an action packed punk rock weekend.