1,700 Attend Gala

on 13 January 2011.

167276_1649752498155_1667253242_31467441_2391390_n Most tenth birthday parties are held in the confines of ones home, backyards, or even Chuck E Cheese’s with family & friends. But when it’s The Emerald Theatre’s Tenth Birthday, look out cus the entire Michigan Made Music community is coming out to celebrate, and it isn’t going down anywhere other than inside the Emerald Theatre itself! With an itinerary longer than the Detroit Music Awards, the Emerald was locked cocked and ready to rock by the time the night’s “house band”, the Howling

Dr2 Re-Launch Party

on 30 September 2010.

newlogo It's not often that we get a chance to toot our own horns, but we must say that the "New & Improved Dr2" Website Re-Launch Party was a huge success, thanks to nearly 500 of you who helped us celebrate in typical un-abashed Detroit Rock & Roll Style! Whoa, what a throw down! With a super-sized line-up featuring some of Detroit's hottest acts, the Emerald Theater came alive as we unleashed the brand new format for our website, bringing with it an extremely user-friendly interface, while making it much more interactive, laying a solid foundation for many more upgrades and features along the way!

Crofoot on Fire

on 18 August 2010.

Friday the 13th's are usually reserved for superstitions, horror stories, and slasher films, but for Bat on Fire, it's the perfect excuse to throw an extraordinary rock & roll party with some of Detroit's hottest bands and a few hundred of their closet friends. With a line-up the featured such acts as Avarice, Potty Mouth Sissys, Six Months Gone & Pangea hitting the stage starting at 5:30, Dr2 rolled into the Crofoot as Mansfield Park was just ending their set, and was immediately took back by the number of people in attendance.

The Hayloft's $10,000 "Sign My Band" Contest - Finals

on 10 August 2010.

After nearly 8 months of slam dunk competition, The Hayloft's $10,000 "Sign My Band" Contest finally came to an exhilarating climax Saturday night as the Final 5 bands faced off head-to-head in an onstage battle to determine the winner of this marathon event. It was not only for that big fat check for $10k, but also a development deal with NTE Records, a 5-Song EP from Metro 37 Studios, and a Headlining Spot at this years X-Fest! Starting back in January, weekly preliminary rounds were held with 4-5 bands each night and the nightly winners received cash prizes, and moved onto the Semi-Final Rounds where the process was repeated.

Stars & Stripes Sizzles!

on 05 July 2010.

The Fourth Annual Stars & Stripes Festival is in the books, and although the "Unofficial" attendance figures seem to be lower than last years, the attendance at the music stages through out the weekend appeared at or above the levels of previous years, cementing the fact that the promoters of the Stars & Stripes should continue to "let the music do the talking".

2010 Detroit Music Awards.....Oh What a Night!

on 18 April 2010.

And the award goes to........Motor City Music Foundation, for another outstanding night of Detroit Music Celebration! Always a splendid evening of socializing with all the local musicians, The MCMF has been bringing us the Detroit Music Awards for 19 years now, handing out DMA's in over 70 categories that range from rock, jazz, country, and even classical compositions. With over 400 nominees attending the annual gala, the Fillmore-Detroit becomes a who's who within the Detroit Music scene, offering up an exciting opportunity to run into a local musician or even one of our very own rock superstars! Last night's 19^th installment was no exception as Dr2 found ourselves inside the Fillmore, taking

Ro Spit & Monica Blaire

in all the action as we roamed this immaculate theater in search of the movers & shakers within our local music community. Always a fun time to catch up with the musicians who make the music of Detroit, and definitely thee place to make new friends along the way. This year's event was amazing once again as no less than 3 outstanding musicians tied with the most hardware under their arms, each bringing home 3 apiece. Carolyn Striho grabbed the DMA for Outstanding Pop/Rock Recording for "Honesty", Acoustic/Fold Instrumentalist, and a surprising win for Electronic/Dance Recording for "Promised Land - Techno". Blues extraordinaire Johnnie Basset picked up 3 DMA's himself for Outstanding National Small/Independent Recording for "The Gentlemen Is Back', along with the Outstanding Blues Artist/Group and Outstanding Blues/R&B Instrumentalist. Wrapping up the "Hat Tricks" was Lola Morales, bringing home the awards for Outstanding World Artist/Group, World/Reggae/Ska Vocalist, and finished it off with a win for Outstanding World/Reggae/Ska Songwriter.

The Hell Drivers

It's always a great feeling to see many of the Artists/Groups that we have featured here on DetroitRockReview.com bring home their own Detroit Music Awards where Ty Stone & The Truth had the nod twice for Outstanding Pop/Rock Artist/Group and Vocalist. The Howling Diablos pulled in an award for the Dr2 Viewed "Divine Trash Highway", winning Outstanding Urban/Funk/Hip Hop Recording and also for Outstanding R&B Artist/Group. Hush pulled in the DMA for Outstanding Hip Hop MC While Critical Bill received the highly coveted Outstanding Metal/Hard Rock Artist/Group while Insane Clown Posse won for Outstanding Hip Hop Artist/Group. Robots in the Garden won in the "People's Choice" arena that was voted on by you the fans and took home the Vitamin Water Download Award. One of Dr2's favorite albums of the year, Everett Belcher from Doop & the Inside Outlaws took home the award for Outstanding Country Recording.

Critical Bill won Outstanding Hard Rock Group

Of course besides the mingling, the performances are always one of the highlights of the night which saw a wide swath of genres take the stage for our entertainment that included such acts as Ro Spit & Monica Blaire who threw down a remake of JayZ-Alicia Keys hit New York, substituting Detroit for the chorus, awesome! Muruga & The Rainforest Band, The Sun Messengers, and recent country solo artist Julianne all brought amazing if not interesting performances. But things really got rocking when The Hell Drivers rocked the stage, playing a medley of Distinguished Achievement Award winners The Rockets songs that rocked! DMA Winner for Outstanding Metal/Hard Rock Group/Artist Critical Bill brought an outstanding 15 minute set that had them mixing in some old with some new off the just released album Underground Kingdom, playing a 4 song medlay of Beam Me Up, The Ride, Favorite Drug, and My Suicide that had the Fillmore rocking out!

HUSH & Ty Stone Performed at The After Party

Once again the Detroit Music Community should be proud of this annual one night event that brings us all together to celebrate & recognize all the accomplishments of the past year, hats off to all of you who came down & supported the greatest music scene in the world. And for all you haters out there that can do nothing but bitch, moan, and whine about everything from nominees, winners & genres, it's quite apparent that the scene may be just fine without you, since you're never out & about to even know who or what it is you and/or your music is all about! Again, Dr2 would like to thank the Motor City Music Foundation, the producers/organizers of the Detroit Music Awards for another well run event. Take a bow too Detroit, there's no place like home! Oh yeah, The Official After Party at The Park Bar was phenomenal, but we'll leave those memories for those who actually were there supporting Detroit Music! For the complete list of 2010 Nominees & winners, please visit the official site at DetroitMusicAwards.net. Be sure to check out all the photos from this event over in the Dr2 Photo Gallery! DetroitRockReview.com - The Only Place for Local Music News & Reviews!

The Hayloft Gets Lit!

on 14 April 2010.

The Hayloft Gets Lit!

It's weekends like this past one that drives Dr2 to do what we do, immerse ourselves in some of the best music this city has to offer, and that's exactly what we found all weekend under one roof. Quickly becoming one of the premier music venues in the area, The Hayloft has undergone a number of vast improvements that has transformed this great sounding room into thee place to play on the eastside, recently installing a state of the art lighting system that rivals any in the city. Add in some of the best bands in the city today and you've got a increasingly successful venue that has been packing them in since re-opening in October of 2008, hosting a huge list of local bands while also playing host to some of the nation's hottest touring bands on a regular basis. This past weekend was a great example, The Hayloft played host to a couple of hot nights with some of the best bands around beginning on Friday with a semi final for their current $10,000 "Sign My Band" Contest, then topping the weekend off with an all-out assault on the Clem as Critical Bill swept in and annihilated the place!

First, Friday night pitted Lithium, Cody Stagefright, All Hands Lost, & Psylo in a knock-down drag-out battle for that big fat check for 10k, a Real Detroit Weekly cover story, a 5 song EP from Metro 37 Studios, a record development deal with NTE Records, and a headlining slot at X-Fest 2010. A great package of prizes that resulted in an amazing display of rock & roll! All Hands Lost kicked things off before Psylo took over, both delivering solid sets, but it was only the prelude for the final two bands that turned the heat up to "broil" in the Loft this night! From the jazzy, rock-infused soul rap of Cody Stagefright, to the razor sharp, metal of Lithium, tonight was destined to be a nail biter, and while Cody Stagefright eked out a closely contested battle over Lithium, both bands definitely put on shows to be proud of, delivering a "Fan"-tastic show for all as they both displayed the kind of talent which sets these two apart from the crowd. Did we mention a "State of the Art" lighting system? Neither wow!, amazing!, nor phenomenal even comes close to describing the effect these new lights have on the shows going down on the Hayloft's large stage, elevating this venue to the top of the eastside's rock clubs.

Saturday night had the Dr2 Bus filled to capacity and heading straight back to The Hayloft where the current 89X 9-Day People's Choice Champions, Critical Bill, were back in their own house, along with quite a few hundred of their closest friends for round 2 of this spectacular weekend! With a new Album, Underground Kingdom, on the shelves of every Best Buy across the country, Critical Bill is currently living the dream that Detroit bands long for, riding a huge tidal wave of recent successes that appear to have this urban, hip-hopin', rock band on the verge of something huge. Last month's CD Release Party overwhelmed the Emerald Theater which was attended by 1,600 fans, numbers not seen since Kid Rock launched his Rock & Roll Jesus tour from the very same stage, selling 1,400 CD's that night alone, a successful East Coast Tour, 5 Detroit Music Award Nominations, an invitation to perform during the Detroit Music Award Ceremony, an upcoming Midwest to California Tour, and 9 days as the 89X People's Choice Champions, which brings us to this past Saturday night at the Hayloft. If success in music is judged by how many fans are willing to come out and support your band, then Critical Bill may very well be at the top, enticing another 500+ through the doors of the Hayloft for what was nothing short of a spectacular show. A star-studded support bill that included Down For Now, Band With No Name, and featured the return of Detroit's own "Tone" performing twice with the reunion of Just Cuz & Last, made for a memorable opening to the night. But as always, there was no doubt who everyone came for, swarming the stage as Critical Bill rampaged through their now familiar set list, throwing in a number of new songs from Underground Kingdom that included Beam me Up, Underground Kingdom, and Favorite Drug. But the real highlight of the night was the 180 degree turn Critical Bill made during the night as they actually performed "Better"! No we're not talking musically better, we're talking about the new track off Underground Kingdom which has the guys turning acoustic, even bringing up David Hamilton to help out with the downright A Cappella vocals and turning in a superb version that had the Hayloft crowd mesmerized. But only for a moment!, as Critical Bill jumped right back into there classic urban rocking hip hop, eventually closing out their set with an all out flurry of bodies on stage to "Jump Around", a very fitting end to another Critical night. Did we mention the new "State of the Art" Lighting System the Hayloft just installed......? They are reason enough to make your next show a night out at The Hayloft! Be sure to catch Critical Bill this Friday Night as they perform during the Detroit Music Award Ceremony at The Fillmore-Detroit, then mark your calendars for June 4^th as Clutch Cargo's in Pontiac gets Critical with Critical Bill, tickets available at Tickmaster.com. DetroitRockReview.com - The Only Place for Local Music News & Reviews!

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