It’s a very special day when the Arizona music scene converges on the historic Nile Theater in downtown Mesa and Saturday was no exception. Within These Walls- the iconic celebration of AZ hardcore and beyond- made a triumphant return to the venue and sold out the day long event in style. Taking its name from proprietor Michelle Donovan’s favorite band, Bane, the event has long been a cornerstone of Arizona hardcore and its comeback was a highlight for a large chunk of the scene. With local, national and even international bands on the lineup, fans were able to mosh for hours to some of the best in the business. Atlas jumped in the pit with the rest of the crowd for an intensely loud experience.
The sun was still high in the sky when Deathdotgov took the stage in The Underground for a blistering, genre-busting set to a receptive early audience. The local rockers both blend and defy genre for a sound that is undoubtedly heavy but not bound by any constraints of hardcore. The end of the set featured a cheeky cover of Earth Wind and Fire’s “September” for a timely comedic bit that had everyone laughing before the final breakdown.
There was more to see upstairs on the main stage as local metalcore act Where Eagles Dare cracked jokes with the audience before launching into a phenomenally heavy performance. Two songs in had the band breathing heavily and making even more jokes about their regular naptime but that didn’t stop their energy for the rest of the set.
Another special performance came in the form of Modern Life is War later in the evening. The hardcore punk band has been on and off since their formation in 2002 and their return to Arizona was highly anticipated by the masses of fans that filled the theater by this point in the night. Their set was a stunning journey through everyone’s favorite songs as fans launched themselves from the stage and moshed with vigor in the middle of the floor. Those who had been in the room all day were waiting for this moment and the band more than delivered the perfect opening act for the event’s two headliners.
Post-hardcore outfit Touché Amoré was up first and frontman Jeremy Bolm was magnetic from the jump, drawing the fans towards the stage to scream the lyrics along with the band. There was a clear exchange of energy between the band and the fans- opening with “Flowers and You” alone fired up the audience in unquantifiable ways. The performance was powerful until the final notes of “Honest Sleep” sent the band offstage in preparation for the storm that was brewing.
Sydney hardcore outfit Speed provided the icing on the cake of a perfect day as they turned on every light in the building and pointed them directly at the stage and the crowd. The room was ablaze so no one missed a moment of the chaos- fans immediately jumped onstage just to throw themselves back into the roiling crowd after vocalist Jem Siow kicked off the chaos with a few notes from his trusty flute (still the hardest thing in hardcore, it’s impossible to deny). The band fully encouraged the fans to continue the stage diving and moshing as they blasted through 45 minutes of pure unfiltered intensity on “Kill Cap”, “Shut It Down” and “Not That Nice”.
The set ended so abruptly that the crowd nearly missed that it was over but there was no doubt that it was one of the strongest performances of the day. Fans piled into the alley and surrounding areas of Mesa, covered in sweat, blood and grinning ear to ear through the ringing in both as another massively successful Within These Walls came to a close- we’ll be thrilled to come back for the next installment in 2025.
