The semifinal round in DC kicked off in one of the most elegant music venues this side of the Mississippi, The State Theatre. Amongst the retro decor, and hardwood floors, some of the area''s best original bands came out to strut their stuff. Young rippers North Avenue, brought the house down once again, and walked away with the top spot on Thursday. Restoring Poetry in Music gets tighter with every show. They brought out one of the biggest crowds of the semis, and advanced on to the final round Friday night, along with newly renamed Honor By August. The party-rock sounds of Jebus filled the State Theater to it''s brim with adoring fans. They walked away with a spot at the 9:30 Club, and the honor of being the top voted band in all of the United States. Thursday night was packed all around, with three other bands being awarded wild-card spots in the final round... Adopt-A-Highway, Jackie Gino, and Rock Tronics. On Sunday, Emergenza vets The Dreamscapes Project became the only band to make to the finals two years in a row. They haven''t skipped a beat since last year''s festival, bringing their crowd to their butts once again. Official''s fans got so hyped during their performance that they hopped right up on stage and rocked out with the powerful DC 3 piece. No Harm Done donned matching collars and ties for the semifinal, and everybody''s favorite Jager- drinkers, Breakingform, brought the thunder to Falls Church. DC101 Chili Cookoff finalists Fourth Element came all the way from Baltimore to show VA what they''re all about. Masters of the Universe, another out of town act, sounded amazing in the converted theatre, their vocals floating around the room like a feather in the wind. Jabali Afrika closed out the weekend with another amazing performance. They invited the audience on stage once again, to dance the night away to their soul-pounding tribal rhythms. Tru Believers and Unity Reggae Bands steadied out our rock heavy weekend. Odd Man Spoke came back for a second time, and rocked just as hard as before. The David Wayne Band, the only country act the festival, added a little twang to Saturday''s show. Female fronted AFI, Seed Is..., and The Gorgeous showed the boys how rock is done, and ADHD and The Cause both had solid sets. The People 606 funked us out, and Southpaw rhymed us in. The Vault gave us a little bit of the London Underground sound, and The Lost Atoms hand-made a beautiful new banner just for the night, and punked it up for the State crowd. One weekend down, one to go. Week 2 at The State Theater started off with a Thursday night full of Finalists. Overhead Switch PACKED the house with screaming fans, Long Since Driven bowled everyone over with their hard-driving sound, and The Crawford Players jammed out with their bluesy rockin''... all advancing to the final round. BOB... a simple name for a complicated sound. They blend all types of different styles into one flowing rock free- for-all. Rude Buddha hit it big twice in 2 weeks. Right on the tail of their winning the opening slot for the DC101 Chili Cookoff, they came out on top of the most heated night of the entire semifinal round. They inched by the killer beats of Bludshot, and Emergenza veterans Eddie Stone to move on to the final round. The Alphabetical Order SWEPT Sunday night, doubling the next closest band in votes for the night. Congratulations to all our finalists. Winning isn''t everything in this thing we call Emergenza, though. We saw some great bands throughout the second weekend. We had a couple more ladies struttin'' their stuff... Annie Sidley brought her amazing voice to the stage once again, Allie fronted The Krunch, and Danan from 23 Skadoo had the crowd in the palm of her hand. Broken Stigma, Cobbler, and Caydence, all 3 piece bands, showed us that less is more, and Nayas proved that more is more.