Steel City, the City of Champions, the Workshop of the World, Hell with the Lid Off… whatever you call it, Pittsburgh and the 31st Street Pub was the home for Emergenza’s rock show January 11th through the 14th. We started the week off Wednesday with riotpilotriot, bringing their original mix of experimental music capped by exciting vocals and brilliant creativity. Organized Confusion’s blend of modern rock mixed with some covers was a real crowd-pleaser. Reflection came with power and versatility, rocking the 31st Street Pub with strong metal. Acidface tore into the stage with tiger claws, ripping through a killer set. Rapping Under the Influence had some killer beats and great tag team vocals from the 2 mc’s. Mucha Libre!!! James Harvey Band finished the night off with their own excellent mix of indie/alternative rock. Thursday began with The Murder Effect. They brought strong vocals and a great backline to the stage, with a good young metal sound. Molly Orange hit the stage next, and had a great sound reminiscent of early “Breeders” stuff. I met Molly, and she’s a nice girl. The crowd was treated to a great rock show from Mission Earth. Destined for Failure came with great lyrics and a great American punk sound with some British influence. Strong vocals and harmonies were the keynotes for Dodging August, who had some great original material. Burning the Blind melted faces and left no survivors with their hard metalcore music. West Hollywood Cheerleaders wrapped the night with great original three-piece punk. Friday came with force, starting with Eriksen. They had an experimental melodic meets hardcore type of sound, led by strong vocals. All Systems Go presented razor sharp guitars and core vocals. Pistol Pete shot through the crowd with hollowpoint metal riffs and powerful vocals. Defcon finished off the few survivors with their own brand of metal. The next band, Wicked Earth, rocked the 31st Street pub for the full-length of their set. Glamour rock was the description given for Dollface Divine, who managed to carve out their own niche in the night. Kill the Drama finished the night with great vocals and an all-around excellent sound. The final night of the weekend, Saturday, started with a bang. Literally… some idiot hit the utility pole across the street and knocked out power to the entire building. The show started a few minutes late, and Disaster Front fired it off with powerful rock led by nice dual vocals and strong instrumentation. Black Forest brought vocals reminiscent of early Dylan, with a nice full sound all around. Next, we heard from Enemy Holiday, coming in with versatile guitars and great vocals. Face Down Presley played pure punk like it’s supposed to sound. Nice song about taking Grandma to Vegas, too. Wino Riot had a nice, funky original sound, with great stage presence and wonderful harmonies. B&D Confusion was garage rock with the door open! Good vocals, and a nice cover of “Blitzkrieg Bop.” Fountain Infinity had a time machine drummer and bassist, with aggressive vocals and nice guitar effects. Our final band, Big House Pete, wrote a song about my divorce. It was beautiful. Their music was catchy but not full of shit, with a great original rock & roll sound. The weather was unseasonably warm, and the crowd was, too. 31st Street Pub has a lot of history in Pittsburgh’s live music scene, and we were proud to add another notch on the stock. See you in May!