Twin kissin'' grannies, bras on stage with no panties and drinks going down like sweet sweet candy! The Chi-town leg of the Emergenza Music festival has definitely been kicked off!!! Someone forgot to tell me that Thursday night in Chicago is the new Saturday. 8 rockin'' bands and rowdy fans had everybody forgetting they had to work in the morning. Ferdinand Fox opened the festival with some soul-based rock that left the crowd fiending for more. They wouldn''t have wait long to satisfy their addiction to rock, with 8 per second pumping their veins full of alternative rock. If heavy metal is the prescription, Wretched is your pharmacy, but if you were looking for dirty blues rock n'' roll Veryle Turnstyle would have to be the answer. Right before the band started off the second half of the night with some guitar driven rock, the drummer for The Logic of Elliot was serenaded by the crowd for her birthday. Unfortunately we in the crowd couldn''t vote ourselves into the next round. Even if we could have, Signal''s passionate heavy rock would have probably beaten us anyway. Downfall was next and definitely didn''t bring the mood down with their intense death metal sounds. To close the night, I roughly translated the Spanish rock of Yerba Mora as saying, “Rock the f@#% on Emergenza!” Friday night was no exception to the balls to the wall rockin'' weekend I witnessed here in the windy city. The Note got dangerous early on as Luminary''s heavy metal got the night started off with a rowdy mosh pit. It didn''t scare El Jet Set though. They took the stage and rocked out with their Spanish rock carried by latin rhythms. Young rockers, The Upper Class took us to school next with their synth driven punk music. By this point in the night the crowd was really growing and wouldn''t be leaving anytime soon. Fluidminds kept them entertained with their alternative rock with some groovy reggae undertones. Naturedevil was next with their unique stage assistance by some looney tunes and barnyard animals that served as a backdrop to their rock music. Substance had the biggest draw of the weekend and played next. The crowd got really into the groups heavy alternative rock and also stuck around to support the psychedelic grooves of the last band of the night. Brainchild didn''t let the crowd think about each song individually as each of their jazzy jam based rock songs melted into one another. With only five bands on the playbill for Saturday night, I didn''t know what to expect. I''ll tell you what I got though…five bands playing their A@#es off for a chance to be one in four for the night to move on to the quarterfinals. The crowd was rowdy as hell on Saturday and Nonewillfall didn''t calm them down one bit. Their heavy rock set the stage for the rest of the night. Trouser took the stage second for the night and had their well-dressed crowd throwing undergarments through the air. Maybe it was their indy influenced pop rock or their slick suits that drove the crowd to this madness. Either way the Urban Achievers kept the crowd going as the bras found their way back to the stage during their set of straight rock. Sound Cinema played a long set of progressive rock next that would have had the most talented of guitar players impressed. But, in the end, Metaphysical took care of business in a close race with their heavy metal closing of the first weekend of Emergenza in Chicago. Til next time fellow Emergenza fans rock out with your…well you know.