In concordance with Austin’s annual South by Southwest conference, Dallas locals were treated to South by So What, a one-day music festival put on by Plano-based Third String Productions (TSP).
A lot of changes went into this year’s festival, including a more metallic line-up compared to previous year’s punk-themed events. The biggest improvement; however, was the change in location. For the past two years the festival was held at the Plano Centre, but moved to Dr. Pepper Arena following TSP’s positive experience with Unsilent Night.
“We were really surprised at how good it sounded, for a hockey rink — like a regular music venue,” Harrison Blum, a spokesman for the promoter said in an interview with Pegasus News.
Not attending Unsilent Night, I cannot speak for the sound quality then, but judging off of the sound at this performance, I was left somewhat unimpressed.
Arriving at the venue after 1 p.m., to avoid a few opening acts I wasn’t interested in seeing, I walked into the set of Dallas-based A Tragedy At Hand. While they are not the most experienced of band’s to come and their instrumentation was a bit repetitive, I would not place them on the list of utter failures like bands, From First to Last and A Skylit Drive.
Imagine Deas Vail having a baby with a crappy version of Alesana, and you might have something that looks like the band, A Skylit Drive.
For the first few moments of the bands performance I was a bit shocked. I found the high-pitched vocals of lead singer Michael Jagmin awkward, and had I not known better, I would have figured a chick was singing on stage. Based off of their recorded offerings, this performance was a major disappointment.
With a more than solid line-up of three headlining bands, one would not have expected stand-out artists such as Everyone Dies in Utah, Asking Alexandria, We Came as Romans and Of Mice and Men to perform on the same docket.
It was the performance of American Post-Hardcore band We Came as Romans that stole the show for me. With their flawless stream of instrumentation and precisely placed breakdowns, We Came as Romans perfectly evolved the sound of electronic-infused metalcore.
Rounding the top of the 22 bands that performed at South by So What were some of the best moments of the evening. However, North Carolina-based Alesana hands-down takes the cake for best and worst moments of the evening.
Leaving an arena chanting, “bullshit, bullshit,” is surely something Alesana does not encounter, but thanks to a whole lot of sound problems and the producers cutting their set short, Dr. Pepper Arena was left with one angry audience.
What many bands lacked in stage presence, Alesana killed thanks to an over the top presence highlighted by out-of-this-world stage dives. The vocal range of lead singer Dennis Lee was amazingly showcased through vocal trade-off’s and gut-wrenching death growls. Sadly, if there was any band I would have liked to see more of, this was the one.
Welsh rock band, Attack Attack, took the task of performing after the biter exit of Alesana, and managed to keep the seriously pissed off crowd under wraps thanks to involving the crowd in the biggest chicken fight I have ever seen.
Ending the evening, California deathcore band Suicide Silence put on a brutal performance of out of control drums, driving bass and guitar and seriously impressive vocals.
While some may call this year’s festival a great success thanks to a solid line-up of national touring bands, others might cry bullshit thanks to sound issues and cut stage shows.
In spite of some issues that could have turned this years event into something difficult to get on with, South by So What left Frisco, Texas with an amazingly exhausting day off rock – who could ask for more?
For the past 18 years, KDGE (The Edge) has brought together some of the best in mainstream rock for their annual Edgefest music fest. This year was not the exception as rock icons such as Courtney Love, Limp Bizkit and The Deftones performed for more than 17,000 Texans May 1 at Pizza Hut Park in Frisco.
