If there is one genre that has to prove itself to me time and time again, it is screamo. Over the past few years there has been an exponential growth in the number of bands padding out the genre. It has never really grown on me, the incessant, unintelligible screaming, the open chord strumming, I don't know, I never really got into it. So, needless to say, this show had to work at winning me over. Well, not really, but you know what I mean, I didn't go into this as a fan of any of the bands that were playing, still I am always willing to give bands a shot, and I am generally easy to please in the live setting.

When I got inside The Chance Theater, Twelve Gauge Valentine was already onstage performing. If this show wanted to win me over, this was not a good start. They had the energy, but everything else was just so bland and generic that I failed to become engaged. There were plenty of the screamo-kids doing their thing in the pit to be entertained with, but the music left much to be desired. The vocals were that generic scream that I have come to be completely bored with. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against screaming, but please try to bring something new to the table. The rest of the band felt just as flat. The performance itself was solid, just nothing special in the music itself.

Following that up is another up and coming screamo/emo act. Honestly, I cannot say that I liked the music, but it was a considerable step up from Twelve Gauge Valentine (although I do think that is a pretty cool name). This act was from North Carolina and called Alesana. The stage was set up, complete with speaker cabinet blocking banners featuring their album cover. The six piece act took the stage, backs to us, fists pointed to the skies as the music kicked in, full throttle. They brought a little more subtlety to the music, mixing in the soft with the heavier (not really heavy). Three band members shared the vocals, with two of them handling the vast majority of the lead duties. I liked how the blended clean singing with the screaming, with the inclusion of a death metal growl, just to liven things up. They also used three guitarists, adding a little more to their sound. In the end, it was still not to my taste, but the music was interesting and offered a nice variety to their sound.