The 1st of 2 of two back-to-back EMERGENZA weekends at the 5 Spot in Old City Philadelphia started on Thursday with THE SIGNAL EFFECT. On a night dominate by metal, they used a pitch shifter on some stunning vocals to "Wake the Dead." GALVANIZED came all the way from South Jersey and got the crowd so hyped that somebody moshed their way into the guitarist''s pedal board. APERION''s guitarist ripped so hard that THE HIXON himself came up and gave him a pound on the chest in support. UNDERCAST had all the ladies in the crowd singing along to their tunes, and the lead vocalist in SPITSHINE reeled the audience in with his amazing presence and voice. FIRES TO ADORE, although they''re used to playing in the pirate pudding pen, had no trouble adapting to the 5 Spot stage. THE HIXON closed out the night by donning a face-mask and showing the youngsters that Hardcore Metal has no age restrictions. THE ORIGIN opened up Friday night with charango-infused surfy riffs, and a cowboy hat. THE MASHED POTATO EXPERIENCE liked the energy of the 5 Spot ROCK ZONE so much that they incorporated it into one their songs, and CITIZEN''S OUTREACH PROGRAM were feeling the vibes of the night so hard that they dedicated a song to the EMERGENZA Festival... they were honored. SUPEREGO celebrated one member''s birthday by rocking their way into the 2nd round, and THE FUX threw energy all around the room, hopping out into the crowd and on the speaker cabinets to draw the crowd in. The stage sucked another member of the audience into the clutches during BROKEN VIEW''s hard-rocking set. S.D.S. closed out the night with their blend of ska punk and reggae, evoking the memory of Sublime''s harder material. COLLAPSE UNDER EYES'' lead singer actually collapsed to his knees during the last song of his set of haunting vocals and hard-driving drums. Future Warped Tour performers HENCE REVERIE''s set was filled with around-the-world bass guitar spins, and an amazing performance by front-man Eric Kovalchek, who wowed the audience with his off the stage and in your face presence. SPUR rocked the 5 Spot thoroughly, and THE HAIRY AUREOLAS had the crowd in stitches with the combination of shockingly funny lyrics and playful instrumentation. STEVE LIBERACE and his BAND played an ode to His Dudeness from The Big Lebowski, and STRIK-9 closed out the night with their commentary on the state of modern meteorology by saying "you don''t need a @#$%in'' weatherman to tell you which way the @#$%in'' wind blows. The final night of the weekend kicked off with ZEEDOCTA exploding into a mosh fueled metal massacre. Reeves was in the crowd almost more than he was on stage, throwing his patients around the operating room. Female fronted MIDNITE BLUE, although outnumbered by heavier bands, did their woodstock-era blend of kind melodies. CRONIC FATIGUE rocked their way to the North Star Bar with the support of the other bands. CURSE ATLANTIC''s vocalist gave so much to his performance that he took a seat on the PA speaker at one point to store up some energy for the next outburst. We''ll be seeing DEFIANCE at the next round in Philly, and POCKET BUDDHA rocked the 5 Spot so hard that they blew a fuse. Like true professionals, sound engineer BOB and stage manager PATRICK got the sound back up, and made sure that no fan left unrocked. By the time you read this, another weekend at the 5 Spot will be all wrapped up. Make sure to check back right here to catch the latest news about all of the Philly EMERGENZA participants.