Everybody Jump!
What a Whirlwind of a week that saw Dr2 split in 2 for a series of concerts throughout this past week starting with a reality trip to Saint Andrews Hall for the band All Time Low (Maryland) along with Hit The Lights (Ohio), Valencia (Philly), & There For Tomorrow (Orlando). Our mission tonight was simple, check out the latest Nationally Touring “Power Punk” bands (or as we call it “Jump Music”) to see what this explosive genre had to offer while comparing the bands to what Detroit’s local scene has to offer in the same genre. And of course since the Dr2 Crew is always tagging along to see “our” bands, it’s only fair that we get them to “their” shows! What an incredible night as There For Tomorrow opened up the sold out show to 1,000 plus rabid fans packed into the NON-air-conditioned confines of Saint Andrews on a 95 degree day that turned the Hall into a virtual sauna, and we thought the Lager House was hot, this place had to be 120 degrees inside, leaving all inside wetter than an afternoon at Jobbie Nooner! From the opening chords, these crazed fans moshed, crowd surfed, and sang every word to just about every song these guys sang, and they were the first act up? When Valencia took the stage, there was no slow down, apparently the heat has no effect on the younger crowd, and they continued the onslaught of crowd surfers that rode atop the 2,000 hands stretched high in the sky till they reached the stage where a slew of security guards were waiting to help them over the wall only to release their catch back to the sea of fans. Hit The Lights brought out the mega mosh pit, slowing the surfers for a while as the front of the stage opened for some smash up fun leaving the unaware surfers to disappear into the man made sink hole! By the time the shows headliners, All Time Low hit the stage it was pure mayhem, an unbelievable site with as many “crowd surfers” on top as there seemed to be people below! Each time they reached the stage they would run to the back of the hall and get hoisted up again in an endless loop of riding the crowd back to the front. If anyone thinks music is “dead” then I would suggest a visit to one of Detroit’s many venues that host these types of concerts to experience this amazing sight, (Check Out The Video Here) it will change your mind instantly while realizing that it’s not the music that’s dead, but rather the industry types that are holding onto an outdated business model who aren’t keeping pace with today’s kids all in the name of lining their own pockets. The best part of this concert was the fact that all 4 bands were extremely talented; obviously All Time Low was THE band, but what about the support groups? How did they stack up against our own Detroit bred bands?
All we needed to do to get the answer was to load the Dr2 Crew into the Dr2 bus and head down to Comerica Park for this year’s installment of the Van’s Warped Tour and check them out head to head on the dozen or so stages they had spattered throughout the parking lot. Local Power Punk Band from Marysville, MI Every Avenue was first up, opening the day’s events on the SmartPunk.com Stage at 11:30 am to a rambunctious crowd of at least 5,000 fans. Riding high off their recent release Shh….Just Go With It on Fearless Records, Every Avenue appears poised for a breakout of their own fashioning, evidenced by all 5,000 fans singing in one collective voice during their performance of their smash up Where Were You? A quick move over to the Main Stage where some non-Detroit Bands were playing gave us a bird’s eye view of Norma Jean, a Christian Metal Band (yea that’s it!) from Atlanta who as far as we’re concerned should go back to Georgia! Immediately after was Gym Class Heroes out of Geneva, NY. These guys mix a variety of genres together creating a unique sound that you cannot mistake as theirs’, other than having 15,000 people in front of us, a pretty decent set! The Academy Is was up next on the Main Stage and 
played to a swelling crowd that literally exploded when they hit the stage. Pretty amazing sight as hundreds upon hundreds of crowd surfing maniacs took their chance to ride atop the crowd hoping to make it to the stage! Back to the Smart Punk stage for Medina Lake out of Ohio who also put on a great set, in fact one of the most amazing sights was when their lead singer jump atop the crowd himself, rolling to his side that seen him take a big u-turn over top of the thousands of fans outstretched hands. One of the best sets of the day came from The Audition out of Chicago, but who has numerous Detroit connections, including lead singer Danny Stevens, whom graduated a couple years ago from a Macomb Twp High School with some of our Dr2 Crew! Playing the Ernie Ball Stage to a huge crowd stuffed into the fenced off area like sardines, The Audition themselves a few thousand or more crazed fans that obliviously felt the Detroit connection themselves. Stopping in between songs, Stevens made mention of the fact that it “felt good being home again, though it feels strange being back in my old room”, before having Danny of Every Avenue join him stage for a couple of songs, sending everyone into one of the biggest mosh pits we’ve ever witnessed! Forever The Sickest Kids hit the stage next to a slightly smaller crowd that was every bit as energetic as they put on a great set, before we hit up the Hurley.Com stage for another band called We The Kings. One of the strangest moments came during another Detroit Band’s set, The Hand Me Downs, where instead of a mosh pit, the crowd ran around in a huge circle which included the wireless members of the band, never seen anything quite like that before! After taking in a number of other sets from various bands including Detroit’s own Manna & Quail, Brandenburg, & One Man’s Opinion, it was time for the kings of the Warped Tour, Chiodos. Now Chiodos should be no stranger to anyone in Michigan, as these Davison rockers have been exploding onto the scene over the past couple years, and judging by the size of the crowd, everyone who attended the Warped Tour squeezed their way into the front of the Main “Van’s 66” Stage to witness these guys who were filming the show for an upcoming DVD Release! Having seen Chiodos before we were expecting a large crowd, but we never imagined some 20,000 people showing up, leaving the remainder of the Warped Tour near empty. What a sight to behold, thousands of people singing in tandem, multiple mosh pits erupting, all the while hundreds of crowd surfers were making that frantic trip to the stage! At one point during their set, Craig Owens (vox), stopped a minute to reflect on the moment, blurting out “I love Detroit” and proceeded to ramble off what he loves about the area, driving home a point that we here at Dr2 have made a number of times that “I will, in fact we all will never leave this place” (Check Out The Video of Chiodos Here) before jump starting the next song with “let’s show them how Detroit does it”! What an awesome moment to one awesome day of great music from all over our country!
Now for that looming question, how do our Michigan bands stack against those other bands around the country? You’ll need to get to some local shows yourself around town and then maybe, just maybe you’ll see what we’ve been saying all along, Detroit Is Rock City! Detroit Rock Review- The Only Place For Local Music News & Reviews!