Encore with The Hard Lessons!
Friday night found Dr2 & Crew over in Pontiac for the Metromix Encore official Arts, Beats, & Eats Afterparty inside the Crofoot complex in Downtown Pontiac in what was nothing short of a fantastic time! The Crofoot itself is reason enough to hit up any show played there let alone what the night’s line-up had to offer with the headliners, The Hard Lessons, Millions of Brazilians, Deastro, Our Brother the Megazord as well as a “Regenerations” Fashion Show by Hale Blu. Besides the Crofoots awesome line-up, musical performances could be had throughout the complex where Prussia and Zoos of Berlin took over in the Vernor’s Grill. Walking into the Crofoot at the very end of the Megazord’s set; we were promptly seated atop the stage in the balcony, an amazing vantage point to take in a concert from the artists point of view! Deastro hit the stage with his Mac, Acoustic Guitar, and 1,000 ft of spaghetti noodled cabling connected to a variety of black boxes that enable him to create subsonic, self described German pop. Also the proprietor behind the sinfully electric, Our Brother The Megazord, Deastro, aka Randolph Chabot Jr., took to the stage wearing a hand made, brightly colored, furry ball creation that draws everyone’s attention to the one man band(s), while he bends, twists, and contorts an array on knobs and dials, producing some unique sounds, before picking up his electro-acoustic guitar to jam along to the beat. Crazy how one guy can create that much noise from so little equipment, we hear he even diassembles toy's just to get to the music box inside to record the sounds digitaly! Crazy wacky fun! We’ve been hearing about 
Millions of Brazilians for some time now and actually missed our first chance of seeing them back in March during the Blowout, though tonight we had a bird’s eye view of this bass-less power trio based out of Taylor. From the moment MOB walked onto the stage and plugged in, the Dr2 Crew was in total amazement from the sure mass of their sound emulating from just 3 guys on the Crowfoot’s huge stage. Currently working on a studio album with Eric Hoegemeyer over at Rust Belt Studios, MOB has taken Detroit by storm as of late, receiving plenty of pen time amongst the city’s many music blogs and playing increasingly higher profile shows all across the metro area. Catch these guys next at The Pike Room September 18th with The French Kicks, or find them in our “Top Friends” over on the Dr2 MySpace Page!
HaleBlu with her Regenerations Fashion Show, brought along a slew of hot female as well as male models who invaded the stage next, sending the Crofoot’s main floor into pure mayhem. Walking out in catwalk style, this fashion show was as much about what the models weren’t wearing than what they were, which in most cases was barely anything at all! Quite an entertaining hour to say the least, which brings us to tonight’s headliners, The Hard Lessons who earlier in the evening opened up for The Blues Travelers inside the Phoenix Amphitheater. What more can be said about this eclectic 3 pc that hasn’t been said before? How about the fact that the Hard Lessons are not only a major draw in Michigan, but have become a major attraction across the country as their indie pop continues to storm every major university city in the US. Fresh off their B & G Sides (boys & girls) Record Release, 
The Hard Lessons are themselves learning some Hard Lesson as Anvil (drums) has announced he will be leaving the band for good come September 27th, his final show. Tonight’s set was typical Hard Lesson Fare, delivering their Detroit Garage / Pop sound via the Crofoot’s massive McCauley PA, trading off vocal duties as only a husband and wife tandem could do (KoKo Louise aka Korin Cox (keys vox) & Augie Visocchi married 3 wks ago), playing off one
another with their charismatic magic that has been ever so present from the beginnings. Ripping through such stalwart HL hits as Milk & Sugar, See & Be Scene, and the vastly popular Come Back To Me, before Augie stole the show by doing what Augie does best, climbing the PA to reach the balcony’s rafters, swinging his way over top of the crowd before dropping 10 ft to the ground, racing through the crowd, returning to the stage while the crowd roared with their approval. Another highlight of the night occurred when Augie took the recent Detroit scandal and turned it into an off the hook chant about the Detroit Zoo, delivering a strong message to Kwame Kill-Patrick in classic Augie rhetoric! Another amazing set from one of Dr2 favorites! Check them out in our Dr2 Links & catch them again before it’s too late at the Ferndale DIY Festival September 21st at the corner of 9 Mile & Woodard for this all day affair featuring a long list of Detroit’s favorite bands.
Although it may have been the end of the show inside the Crofoot Ballroom, the night was not finished yet as another band was taking the stage inside the Vernor’s Grill. By the time Dr2 arrived, the grill was over filled, backed up all the way down the hall and back into the Ballroom, before we were finally able to slither through the crowd to catch the final act of the night Zoos of Berlin. Not sure how the hell this quintet pulled off playing a set in this miniscule setting, but we’re glad they did as this again was the first time seeing this group after hearing their name mentioned everywhere the past couple of years. Taking a different approach to what I’d call euro-electro-pop, ZOB blends catchy guitar riffs with blazing horn melodies, creating a Bowie-Eno-esque sound that sent the sprawling mass of bodies gyrating to their beats! Quite an interesting end to an even more interesting night, check these guys out over at their MySpace page and find a show near you! Stop on over to the Dr2 Photo Gallery and check out all the photos from the night! Until next time, Detroit Rock Review- The Only Place For Local Music News & Reviews!