That''s right, Emergenza was back for its second week of semifinal shows in Pittsburgh. After the gigantic crowds and amazing bands of the first weekend, there was a lot of excitement coming into the second weekend. The competition was stiff and the bands that got the last spots into the finals definitely had to earn them. No free passes here! On Thursday night, we had a little of the new stuff and some of the old being brought back by some of the new. What do I mean? I mean THE JOHNSON BROTHERS BAND. This three-piece isn''t even old enough to shave yet, at least they don''t have to, but they came out with some original songs that made me think I was eight-years old again and back in the late 70''s. It was really good old style southern rock with a guitar player rippin better than most guys that have been playing for more years than he''s been alive. I''ll be excited to see what these guys are capable of by the time they''re all out of high school. Speaking of high school, the other band that advanced that night had teachers and administrators and maybe even those kids high school principle. Don''t let the name fool you though, ROCKABILLY JUNCTION must have taken a turn when they got there. I was expecting a particular style of music from that name, but these guys got up on stage and just flat out rocked. Nothing flashy, no gimmicks, they just put their hearts into it and played a great set. It''s always a good time to watch a band that just has fun on stage and enjoys playing. On Friday night the band DAVENPORT took over about half-way through the show and just destroyed the competition. I was a little worried that the lead singer might destroy himself if he fell off the speakers from about 25 feet off the ground but fortunately, no one got hurt. The other band that moved on from Friday brought some theatrics along with some great music to the stage. If you''ve never seen a walking banana, a man painted red, a pirate, swords and tampons on stage all at the same time, I guess you must have missed ACIDFACE. On Saturday night we had three bands rise to the top and get there passes back to Mr. Small''s for the finals next month. THE NANCY FACTOR brought all the kids out early and had all the jail bait screaming for more. FICTION ON FIRE had some of the best written songs that I heard throughout the semifinals in Pittsburgh and the talent to pull them off. And AFTER THE FALL (ATF) had the stage presence and rock star aura that had the crowd eating out of their hands. These three bands with a little help from the rest of the bill kept almost every fan there from the first note to nearly the last. Some of the bands that didn''t quite make it to the finals that you should keep an eye on from Pittsburgh are Big House Pete, Soma Mestizo, Hood Gang, Adrenaline, Fire Down in High Water, Black Nugget Marinade and Strangeway.