On Monday, May 24, the lively hip-hop group ¡MAYDAY! performed at Ziggy’s by the Sea in downtown Wilmington. This concert made for the third of fifty-three stops on their Future Vintage U.S. tour.

Concertgoers in Wilmington were recently introduced to ¡MAYDAY! earlier this year, when they opened for alternative reggae/rock band, The Dirty Heads, at Greenfield Lake Amphitheater on Cinco de Mayo.

Based in Miami, the group is signed to rapper Tech N9ne’s record label, Strange Music.

Started as a two-man collaboration, the crew currently is comprised of MC’s Wrekonize and Bernz, percussionist guru NonMS, and bassist Gianni Cash.

Wrek, short for Wrekonize, described the live experience ¡MAYDAY! offers as “extremely high-energy”, in an interview with The Seahawk.

“On stage, we stay busy,” Wrek said, “doing multiple jobs and switching roles. We are really big on percussion.”

Experiencing a live performance by these Floridians confirms the MC’s claims for the ¡MAYDAY!   concertgoer.

Though rooted in hip-hop, the music is indeed percussionally heavy, and visually intriguing: twirling drumsticks and a breakdancing band member succeeded to entertain.

¡MAYDAY!’s newest album, “Future Vintage” releases on September 18.

“We’ve put out four studio albums, this one is a crossroads,” Wrek said. “It is a culmination of our past, present, and future, hence the name.”

In Wilmington, the turnout was relatively small, about 60 attendees filled the venue, which has a 750 person capacity.

This could be due to a number of given factors, such as time of week, or marketing, but the crew was not shaken by the numbers and maintained high-octane energy levels throughout the night.

One advantage of the smaller crowd was the intimate experience it provided for the crowd. During the show, members shook hands with fans in the front rows and continually interacted with them.

After the show, fans were able to meet ¡MAYDAY! and take pictures or get merchandise autographed, a privilege otherwise not granted to concertgoers in different settings.

In between songs, Wrek addressed the crowd, relaying encouragement given from rapper mentor Tech N9ne, that some shows at the start of a tour will have low numbers, but over time, the numbers increase.

In the interview, Wrek said they plan to grow their fan base by performing in new cities and doing heavy social media activity. On the tour, they are launching an exclusive contest for fans to win merchandise gear.

Even though ¡MAYDAY! is not yet a household name, they boast some seriously dedicated fans.

One fan, Jeremy Galloway, who travelled from South Carolina to see the show, said, “This was my first time coming to Ziggy’s and seeing ¡MAYDAY! They’re my favorite band.”

Galloway detailed his love of the band by mentioning he had to make the trek back home to South Carolina right after the concert in order to make it to work the following morning.

Another fan in attendance, Juan Rios, from Charleston, South Carolina, said, “My friends and I go to almost all of their shows.”

Rios noted that he purchased the VIP package experience, which earned him the opportunity to hang out with the ¡MAYDAY! guys before the show.

“I wish they had more time to perform [tonight],” Rios said, “so they could have played ‘Mortuary Mary’ or ‘Upstream.’”

¡MAYDAY! shared the stage with openers VillaNova, a soul-infused rock group hailing from Columbia, South Carolina, and versatile in-your-face rapper Kap Kallous, also from Florida.

VillaNova performed in anticipated celebration of their newest album, “Thread of Life”, released August 25.

Kap Kallous will continue to perform with ¡MAYDAY! for the remainder of the tour, which ends in their home state of Florida in late October.