Rocking The Limberlost With Herd & Lies Unknown
Here’s a first, this past Thanksgiving weekend Dr2 loaded up the bus and headed north to make good on an invitation that we received back in late spring from some new friends we made during that huge $10,000 89X Battle of The Bands. It was during the finals of that contest that we had the chance to meet up with this band we had seen during the semi-finals that would load up a converted school bus with the band themselves along with 40 or so friends that were affectionately referred to as Herdlings. That’s right, we’re talking about the 89X BOTB Finalist Herd, a band that would travel nearly 200 miles one way all the way from Houghton Lake Michigan just to compete; on a Thursday! After a couple of failed attempts to meet 
up with Herd on their home turf, we were finally able to connect on a date a month or so ago. For good measure we decided to ask another band to join us, our friends from Lies Unknown, winners of the 89X Share The Stage Conest; Destination The Limberlost Lounge located on the shores of Houghton Lake to meet up with Herd. Dr2 has taken its share of road trips, but this would be the first time that we’ve brought along a band to compliment the band we were heading to see making Dr2 ecstatic that Lies Unknown agreed to come along! Pulling into the snow covered lot, we were took back by the amount of cars already parked, good thing Herd held a table for all of us since there was not any available when we walked in 2 hours before the show was to start! What an amazing venue too, from the moment you walked it was a
visual overload, food cooking out in the open on a large fire pit, a large spacious area of full tables with people eating that food, and an awesome rock room that opened into the rest of the bar! Nice size stage to boot with rather large stacks on both sides, monitors, sound booth, and a light show to die for! After a couple of exclusive interviews with Herd and Lies Unknown (Keep an eye out for DetroitRockReview.com’s newest feature, Dr2 Interviews, coming soon!) it was time to get things rolling as Lies Unknown took to the stage with the Limberlost filling up quickly, kicking off their high energy set with Go Go You Know rolling right into Woodward Avenue. It didn’t take long for the Limberlost crowd to wander up to the stage, bouncing along to those infectious hooks they’ve never heard before as Lies Unknown filled the floor with She’s A Slut, then enticing the house into singing along with a thunderous chorus of “wh-o-o-o-o-a, wh-o-o-o-o-a”, during Whoa It’s Me, prompting that familiar chant of “one more song”, propelling Justin Alexander into a solo rendition of Don’t Stop Believing drawing more chants and another solo of Ring Of Fire! All this for a band the Limberlost
crowd never heard or seen before, kudos to the Houghton Lake Rockers! A short break ensued before the hometown heroes, Herd came to the stage in front of hundreds of fans packed into the Limberlost in what was shaping up to be one hell of an up north night! Dr2 had waited close to six months for this moment and the Crew was as excited as everyone else in da house was to see Herd! Now here comes one of those moments that make Dr2 take to certain bands, in a straight up shout out to Alexander, Jeremiah Cooley (vox) of Herd kicked off their set with “this one’s for Justin”, before ripping off a ferocious cover of Johnny Cash’s Folsom Prison! Unbelievable! It didn’t take long for Herd to command the room’s attention, dropping some originals on us in Irie and Canada Ri from their new EP Obscenery before flying through some bombastic covers that got the Limberlost jumping! 
Being in northern Michigan, they do things a bit different where the bands play all night, so it was time for a well deserved break….. Break my ass, I think the break was just an excuse to party some more as the guys from Herd came by and hung out with us and the Lies gang while we all watched the Limberlost floor turn into a sea of bodies swaying, dancing, and before we knew it, calling for more Herd! No doubt that these guys are loved up here in HL, as they came back up on the stage to twice as many people in front of the stage than the first time! Not exactly sure of the attendance count, but we’d peg it as somewhere between 200-300?? Certainly looked like it! If you’ve had the chance to see Herd, then it’s quite obvious that they thrive on this type of response from the crowd, as they didn’t hold back an ounce of energy, blazing into their second set of the night which by now was bordering on insanity! Turning the heat up 10-20 degrees, melting the snow off the roof, Herd laid down one of the best covers of Rage Against The Machine that Dr2 has ever heard, literally igniting a fire in the pit that was quickly developing in front of them (oh yea I was right in there with them all). 
Another new tune from the EP, the reggae tinged, Choose Your Own quickly turned the pit into one giant fist pumping mob swarming the floor! Not ones that like to loose their momentum, Mike Cooley (guitar-keys) took the opportunity to take the insanity unfolding in front of him to a new level, scaling the stages massive rigging till he appeared on top of the thing nearly 20 foot in the air, and I’m not talking hanging on for dear life. No, I’m talking about flailing on the guitar while standing way up there above hundreds of Herdlings below who were begging for more! Crazy just kept getting crazier tonight as they ended the night (so we thought) with their massively huge title song off the EP, Obscenery, reigniting that mosh pit all around us, even got a few in with the Lies Unknown crazies! It was then that Herd rose above any band that we’d ever had the pleasure of seeing perform live before, announcing at the end of the set that Lies Unknown would return to the stage for a quick
impromptu set which again showed just how unique of a band this group of brothers is, cementing a place in Dr2’s hearts for ever! Un-Herd of right? When was the last time you ever seen the headlining band give up the stage in front of hundreds of their own fans, to let a band they had never met before take over to finish out the night? Never seen it happen down here in the city, that’s for sure. Taking the opportunity, Lies Unknown quickly, & I mean quickly un-cased their gear, plugged into Herd’s backline and blasted off 2 final songs of which at this point kind of got lost in my head but believe they where Let It Take A Hold & She’s A Slut, before being joined back on stage with Herd finishing out the night much to the pleasure of the entire Limberlost crowd. We must say this about the Limbelost staff and all those Herdlings who were in the house tonight, and that is that we could not of felt more welcomed by a group of people than we did tonight, and obliviously they love their Herd, and tonight Herd showed that love back not only to Dr2 but our buddies in Lies Unknown who also were in a state of shock over the hospitality we were all receiving from this great group of people! We look forward to doing this again, both up there and hopefully down here somehow, somewhere, stay tuned cus Dr2 says it’ll be off the hook! Be sure to head on over to the Dr2 Photo Gallery where you’ll find more photo’s from the night, then be sure to head on over to the Dr2 MySpace page where you can find both these great bands listed in our “Top Friends”. Be sure to check back soon for the debut of the Dr2 Interviews featuring Herd and Lies Unknown! Detroit Rock Review, the Only Place for Local Music News & Reviews!