Critical Bill Stuffs The Emerald For Thanksgiving
As soon as the last Turkey Leg was tossed aside, Dr2 loaded into the bus and headed on out for a little Thanksgiving Desert over at The Emerald Theater in Da Clem courtesy of Critical Bill. If there were any skeptics out there on whether or not Critical Bill could step in for Uncle Kracker, we’re here to deep fry that turkey right now, Critical Bill not only delivered the desert, they stuffed the Emerald Theater fuller than your momma’s biggest bird! From within the Dr2 Section, we were treated to four course meal of Pop, Southern Rock, Rock, & Hip Hop that rivaled the feast we devoured prior to tonight’s show that saw Detroit’s newest and hottest bands on the scene today Lies Unknown. Serving up some delicious “power pop” sounds, Lies Unknown brought the swelling crowd front and center for a very tasty 30 minute set of hor dourves that included their mega Detroit City ode Woodward Avenue as well as the highly infectious Let It Take Ahold. Dr2 suggest that if you’ve not seen Lies Unknown yet, heed this warning and catch them soon, if not, you may just miss the next big thing out of Detroit!
The salad course tonight was a fresh southern rock dish served up by none other than our good friends from Dismantle. Serving up some “crunchy” rock & roll, Dismantle themselves had a trick or two up there sleeve as Eric Brodzik unveiled their latest contraption, playing the entire set perched atop a drum riser that must have reached nearly 8 ft high! Life At The Top has been good to these guys, giving us More Rock & Roll all the way To The Liquor Store! Dismantle always delivers the goods and tonight was no different, check em out on Dec 12th over TNT’s for their annual Christmas Party!
Bringing the rock & roll for the main course tonight was the recently reunited Band With No Name. Winners of that $10,000 89X Battle Of The Bands earlier this year, BWNN has been on a hiatus since as their singer Jeff Gutt headed out to LA to rejoin his previously signed to Warner Brothers band Dry Cell to record a new album that will be released in May of 2009 through Rhino Records. If that wasn’t enough, they’ve also had to replace their bombastic bass player Mike Guy who has since moved out to Cali himself. Where most bands would pack up the turkey and head home, BWNN proved tonight that they can persevere through the tough times and delivered one Animal Like set that made for one wild mosh pit of flying bodies and beer! What better way to work off that Tryptophan than to participate in some good old moshing!
Well what can we say about Critical Bill that we haven’t already said? How about bring on the pumpkin pie baby! Man, did they deliver one sweet ass desert tonight, stuffing the Emerald to capacity and beyond before taking the stage themselves for what may have been thee show of the year. Not ones to remain complacent, Critical Bill offered up an enticing stage set-up, complete with trees that appeared to be mysteriously growing out of the stage to give the effect of being outdoors. Wait now, those trees looked awfully familiar…..hmmm. Anyways, with a capacity crowd nearing fever pitch, Critical Bill hit the stuffing filled crowd directly between the eyes, declaring that This Is Critical sending everyone running for the front of the stage. Filling the Emerald with their larger than life urban sounds, Mt Clemens’ own Critical Bill ran through a near hour set that included Downtown The World, Jump Around, and Get High before reaching out to the sell-out crowd, inviting each and every one over to The After Party at the Hayloft. Another amazing night in Da Clem and a truly generous gesture from ALL the bands that played tonight, so Dr2 would like to shout out a BIG THANK YOU on behalf of every one in Mt Clemens and beyond that enjoyed a free festive Thanksgiving Night party courtesy of Critical Bill! Be sure to check out the photos from this event in the Dr2 Gallery and for more on these bands, head on over to the Dr2 MySpace page where you’ll find them all in our “Top Friends”. Detroit Rock Review, the Only Place for Local Music News & Reviews!