Emphatic, Pop Evil and Crossfade Live Review and Photo Gallery – 6/18/11
It was a rockin’ story of three different bands at the Phoenix Hill Tavern on Saturday Night. The three bands on the bill this evening was Emphatic, Pop Evil and Crossfade. All three bands are at different areas in their career, and every band has new music offerings in the very near future.
Emphatic is a new band trying gain a new fan base (and succeeding). Pop Evil is on their way to the top with their recent appearances at Rock at the Range & Rocklahoma. Crossfade had a ton of success with their debut album, and have been fighting to get back to the top of the rock heap ever since then.
Other than seeing their name in some recent press releases for the up and coming Carnival of Madness Tour, I knew absolutely nothing about the band Emphatic. I haven’t heard any of their music prior to this show. They quickly won me over with their energetic live set and catchy tunes. (Check out their song & video “Bounce” here.) Their new CD, Damage is coming out on July 12th. Judging from the tunes I heard in their live set, this is one CD that you will need to get!!
I have seen Pop Evil a few times over the last couple of years and they never disappoint. On this Saturday evening, the band’s performance was quite electric. Leigh Kakaty is a great front man, and knows how to get the crowd revved up. He had the crowd at Phoenix Hill Tavern energized and singing along with all of their songs.
Pop Evil’s set list had the following songs: “Breathe”, “Broken”, “Somebody Like You”, “Monster You Made”, “Daisy Chain”, “Shinedown”, “Save the World”, “Boss’ Daughter”, “100 in a 55”, “Last Man Standing” and “Hero”. I thought the band was going to bring the roof down when they performed “Last Man Standing” the new track off of their up and coming CD, War of Angels (which will be released July 5th)! There is a half sized wall that separates the pit area in front of the stage from the fans who prefer to sit at a table. Leigh Kakaty used this wall as his personal stage and got up close and personal with the fans, while singing “Last Man Standing”. This made for one unforgettable show from Pop Evil.
I may be biased, but I thought Pop Evil stole the show Saturday night. They were great, and the crowd loved them!
Crossfade was the headliner for the evening, and they quickly proved that they too were a force to be reckoned with. Crossfade had a pretty nice light show set up behind them that looked really cool while they played, but it made it pretty tough to get good photos. The band was pretty entertaining to watch nonetheless.
Les Hall had some pretty cool guitars that he changed out often during Crossfade’s set. He was a lot of fun to watch play. Ed Sloan was in fine vocal form all night. Mark Castillo was letting the drumsticks fly all night. Crossfade played a few of their new songs off of their new CD, We All Bleed (due out today, June 21st) including: “Lay Me Down”, “Dead Memories”, “Dear Cocaine”, “Killing Me Inside”, “We All Bleed” and “Make Me a Believer”. The rest of the set included the songs “Starless”, “Colors”, “Already Gone”, “Drown You Out”, “Dear Caine”, “So Far Away”, and “Cold”.
While I thought Crossfade was pretty good live, I thought Pop Evil was the band of the evening, but all three bands help to deliver a great night of rock in Louisville, Kentucky on Saturday night!
Emphatic Photo Gallery
Pop Evil Photo Gallery
Crossfade Photo Gallery
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