Chiodos

[James Radick]

I would love to hear how this show was.

[natedorough]

Between You and Me - Better than they were last time, but that was mainly probably because I was next door eating through most of their set.

Versus the Ocean - Didn't catch much of their set either, bands were FLYING through their sets early on. The usual from them, could be tighter, Jeremy sounds great as usual on vocals, but is starting to try to hard, like he's gotta make up for the band being sloppy.

Your Best Friend - Ruled. As usual. New Steve's finally starting to look semi-comfortable. It's as if sometimes he looks over at Dale and John thrashing around like muppets and realizes he should be doing the same thing. But they sounded great, two new songs were solid as hell.

Chiodos - Tough to say. They've lost a lot of what they had. As much as I don't really respect Craig as a person, he was the "rock star" in the band. The band was built around his vocals, and I always thought he was good live (except maybe at the Mixtape show). The new guy, Brandon, isn't a rock star (yet). He kind of reminds me of someone who would be in like Buckcherry or Hinder. He's definitely more of a trashy looking guy. I don't really say that to offend, he's just wearing the bandana and the wife beater, and he kind of sulks around the stage looking beaten down. He doesn't command the crowd yet, and the band's really awkward in between songs.

That being said, these shows aren't the fully polished Chiodos that we know exists. There's no light show, there's no theatre sound system. They tried at least 4 new songs, which all sounded different. More metal and hardcore influenced, not so much of the crooning singing that Craig made famous. The most recent tour with Bullet For My Valentine is not as much of a stretch as it seems, as they're crossing over into that sound as much as they are the emo/core sound.

Poor turnout (199 in a 500 cap), but that was expected. Everyone broke even and made a few dollars, so that's good. The Loft rules. It's got a lot of potential, and will be THE place in Lansing. A little more money needs to be sunk into it, but it's going to be really cool. Come see Against Me or August Burns Red and check it out!