Why Emery rules the world

I got the chance to go see Emery perform on Tuesday at the Marquee theater. They played with Anberlin, Jonzetta, Far-Less, and The Classic Crime. It was an awesome show.

The Classic Crime opened up, they weren't terrible. I really liked their sound but you could tell that they were a new band. They didn't really interact with the crowd and weren't very energetic. Their bassist was pretty into it, but their guitar players just kinda stood there. That may have been because everyone in the band sang at one point or another. They had some really cool harmoies and stuff. I liked them, but they weren't that great.

Far-Less followed up with an absolutly terrible performance. I had heard them before from their CD and I liked their CD. But they were terrible live, their singer was high or something. He kept like contorting his body and rubbing his face and making like finger shadows on the wall. Plus he just stood there with the mic in the stand. In the time I was watching them I don't think he left center stage the whole time. To top it off, their bassist was this old guy who played the bass way up under his armpit. They absolutely sucked. I left and went outside while they were playing. Couldn't stand to watch them.

Jonzetta took the stage next, and while you could tell they were new at performing, they put on a great show. Their music was a little odd, lots of off beat syncopation, but they did a good job.

Next came Anberlin. I've seen Anberlin before in concert and they have definetly improved. The first time I saw them was right after the release of their first album, Blueprints for the Black Market. It was their first tour ever and it showed. They managed to put on a great show then and really did a great job this time. Very energetic, their singer hit every single note of his incredibly high range just like a pro. You could definetly tell that they have been practicing alot. And their guitar player just nailed his few solos. Just like the album. The only thing I didn't like about Anberlin was that they have picked up a new back up guitar player who doubles as a screamo singer. Anberlin has a great emo-punk sound, I don't understand why they think they need to be screaming too. But they were great.

Next entered the band we were all waiting to see, Emery. This band from SC has literally blown up the emo-core scene. They went from virtual obsurity to near stardom in only a year. Their first album, released in 2004, shot them into the "emo" scene as the leaders of the pack. Now that "emo" is cool, they have only become more popular. Its barely 2006 and they are headlining a major tour across the US. And not without reason. Emery has one of the best live performances I have ever seen. They are so energetic, they are mega talented, they interact with the crowd really well, and they nail every song perfectly. Sounds just like the album. Toby(Lead Vocals) and Devin(BGVs and guitar) nailed all of the harmonies. They finally got smart and let their keyboardist, who doesn't normally sing, handle most of the screaming for them. He was good at it, but I think Toby and Devin are much better. Another thing that Emery is famous for is their keyboardist(Josh). He is absolutely nuts, runs all of the stage, picks up his keyboard and swings it around and is just energetic in general. Adding him as the screamer for live shows only makes him more influential and helps him perform better. One thing that they did that I really enjoyed was switch places in the band. On their second album "The Question" Devin does a lot more singing on some of the songs. On the songs where Devin is the main singer, Toby put on a guitar and played while Devin took the job of lead vocals. They were absolutely excellent. Played all my favorites plus some songs that I didn't expect them to play. Emery is the best emo-core band out there. No one else even touches them. This was the third time that I have seen Emery and they only get better.

I encourage everyone who is a fan of hard music or emo in general to pick up both their albums. The Weak's End was the first album and "The Question" their second. The latter of the two is a little more "people friendly" being that it "catchy." The first album is qutie slow moving but musically amazing. I can't say that I have a favorite Emery album but they are both on infinite repeat on my Zen right now.