This Weekend: The Queen Gets Heavy

If last Friday's Willie Nile show was the folk-rock believer's mass, this weekend swings hard the other direction. On Saturday, Aug 1, The Queen hosts "Crown of Smoke x Awake at Last" (doors listed at 8 p.m.), a co-headlining bill built for people who like their Saturday nights loud, riff-forward, and a little dangerous.

Crown of Smoke is a tri-state hard-rock outfit assembled from veteran players across Delaware, Pennsylvania, and Maryland — the kind of band that has clearly logged years in regional rooms and shows up with heavy guitar work and a loyal following already in the building. Awake At Last brings the metalcore muscle: a touring act with a national profile and the melodic-heavy dynamics that fill mid-size theaters with people who know every word to the breakdowns. Put them on one stage inside a restored movie palace and you've got the sweatiest, most cathartic ticket of the weekend.

What's smart about this booking is the range it shows off. This is the same room that hosted a graying folk-rock legend seven days earlier and will host '90s alt-rock royalty a week later. A venue that can pivot from Willie Nile to a metalcore double bill without blinking is a venue doing its job — and it's a reminder that "The Queen" and "heavy music" are not strangers. Wilmington has always had a thriving loud-music underground; it's nice to see it get the big room now and then.

Around the double bill, the usual weekend architecture holds. The Riverfront Summer Lunchtime Concert Series keeps free Wednesday-afternoon sets going at the Hare Overlook Pavilion if you want a mellow, daylight counterweight before the weekend's noise. And the neighborhood rooms — Kelly's Logan House upstairs in Trolley Square, the Greenhill Avenue room now running as ICONZ — will be doing their reliable weekend business for anyone who prefers their live music without a reserved seat.

But the headline is the heavy one. Metalcore and hard rock don't always get the marquee treatment in a mid-size city; too often they're relegated to the smallest, hottest rooms in town (which, to be fair, is where a lot of us prefer them). Saturday, they get the palace. Wear something you don't mind sweating through, hydrate, and go remember that catharsis is a legitimate reason to leave the house.

Confirm set times with the box office before you go — but clear Saturday. The Queen is about to get very, very loud, and you'll want to be in the room when it does.

Sources: Crown of Smoke x Awake at Last — The Queen; Crown of Smoke — Ticketmaster; Music, drag and late-night energy at The Queen (Delaware LIVE)