TNT’s 89X I’m With The Band Week 12
TNT’s 89X I’m With The Band Week 12
Wow, another raucous night of pure rock & roll mayhem went down over at TNT’s for the 89X I’m With The Band Week 12 contest last night! With only 4 weeks left of the play in rounds leading up to the semi’s beginning May 1st, things have certainly been heating up. Slipping and a sliding into TNT’s parking lot in what we all hope was the LAST snow storm of Spring, Dr2 scurried into the joint dodging all those little white flakes that we just haven’t been able to get rid of yet. I mean it is spring right? Didn’t winter come “early” this year, snow falling during the entire month of November? Why hasn’t Spring come early…..we can only hope we’re not all wearing our winter’s finest for this year’s Wrif Harley Fest come mid-June! Tonight seemed a bit light on the crowd size as we were able to set up at our favorite table back near the sound booth, and we arrived during the first song from the first band up tonight, Kardia? Not much excitement up on stage which always transfers to not much excitement from the crowd……. The hard hitting Mellotron was up next and was finally able to ignite a spark inside TNT’s.
Taking a different approach to metal, Mellotron throws keys in the mix to change up their sound. Decent set from these guys, check them out over at their Mellotron site! The third set tonight was from Firs and Spruces which is the solo acoustic project of none other than James Brown of the Detroit based band Citizen Smile. Focusing on the refreshing sounds of simple yet riveting songwriting, Firs and Spruces pulled off a major coup tonight, actually bringing a respectable crowd up front for the ride. Starting off with the most spot on song of the night, (excuse us if this title is wrong) Snow In Michigan, Firs and Spruces brought a smile to just about everyone’s face. 
Quite the unique sound from this one man band, I’d stop in to see another set, so check him out if you like something out of the ordinary over on his MySpace page! Winning the “Online Vote” for week 12, InGray has quite the interesting story themselves. Hailing from Europe, they found themselves playing in front of massive crowds up to 15,000 people including a special performance for President Clinton. Seeking to take it to the next they made the move from Bosnia to Detroit, bringing with them years of experience and a collection of music videos. Formerly known as AXA, InGray is currently recording their latest album over at Metro Recording Studio. 
If the crowds where light early on, that certainly changed by the time these guys hit the stage, bringing in the biggest crowd so far tonight. Absolutely nailing their set, InGray had their fans moving to songs like School Buss Yellow and their huge track called Scream, before finishing with another spot on song called Immigrant Song! Check them out over at their InGray website where they have a bunch of shows listed! Well as in a number of weeks past, winning the On-Line Vote doesn’t ensure victory for the week, and tonight was shaping up to be one of those nights. When the final band was loading in, so were the fans of Free Element. 
I mean they just coming around the corner, first one by one, then more like ten at a time. By the time Free Element was set-up and launching into their opening song the front of the stage was swarming with fans screaming their support! After a slow start tonight Free Element packed them in and obviously won the Door Vote to tie the contest up. So following the strong performance by InGray, Free Element had to knock us out tonight to get the week 12 win to move on to the semi-finals in May. Rest assure that by the time they hit us up with the ferocious Kickstart, Free Element was pulling ahead quickly and then put it away with their smash up hit called Train. What a comeback tonight as it was announced after their set that yes indeed Free Element would be moving onto the semi-finals as they were crowned the winners of the 89X I’m With The Band Week 12! Congratulations to these guys as they put on one hell of a set! Check them out over on the Free Element MySpace page, where you’ll see that their CD is free! As in all contests, there are winners and losers, but we’d like to give a big shout out to all the bands tonight for such great music, especially for the members of InGray, as they really did do an awesome job tonight! Remember Detroit Rock Review is the ONLY place for local music news & reviews. Check it!
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