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Local band Acerose opened the show, playing their first note just as I walked into the building. They had some intriguing parts, a few good guitar leaads and a couple decent breakdowns, but I wasn't all that impressed on the whole. They played rock and roll metalcore that sounded like a mixture between Every Time I Die and Unearth. I found them to be on the boring side with the generic-ness of their music, but with time, they could have potential.
I was looking forward to hearing Pierce the Veil. I've read some good things about them,a nd I am usually pretty trusting of the taste of A+Rs at Equal Vision. Their set didn't let me down at all, and except for some very cheesy samples (I like these at first, but I winced when they had something playing about a double murder because a guy killed a girl's love and he wants her to kill him) and some technical problems, they well surpassed my expectations. They had a melodic progressive sound, a sort of mix between Circa Survive, The Mars Volta and Thursday. They made very good use of four vocalists (one lead and three backups), as that added some nice textures to the already enjoyable music. I also liked the fact that the keyboardist also played a MacTop. While I detested some of the samples, he produced some intelligent sounds that fit in quite well.
Dance Gavin Dance had two singers. One was used for screaming, while the other primarily sang with a high pitched voice. Although I really enjoyed the screamer's voice, I found the band to be completely boring and uninspiring. There were very few parts taht caught my ear, so I spent most of their set watching the Sox lose to the Indians, waiting for the next band to take the stage.
After watching A Day to Remember open with "Fast Forward to 2112," and completely turning the crowd into an uproar, it really had me wishing that they stuck to this writing fast, melodic hardcore songs, as that song is by far their best. I was stoked to hear them play "Speak of the Devil" as well, but none of the songs lived up to the opener. Thats not to say that they were bad. They were tight, energetic and the crowd loved them. They excel in the live setting, even though my selfish ways had me wishing they played a different style. They had some great breakdowns, as well, especially the song they closed with (I can't remember the name of it).
A lot of people left after A Day to Remember left the stage, leaving Alesana with a smaller but incredibly dedicated crowd. Alesana completely rocked the house, ripping a new one for every person that stayed to see them. They played with an incredible amount of energy that was pretty mind blowing to watch. The crowd (which was filled with a lot of groupies, including one that was wearing Alesana underwear) was loving every minute of it, dancing and singing along like their lives depended on it. I was told about their great live show before going to see them, but nothing could have prepared me for the enjoyment I was about to endure.