It’s the first year for Emergenza in the fair city of Jacksonville, Florida. Playing host was the 5 points haven of Fuel coffee house. In the middle of Jacksonville’s southern style hospitality, Fuel offers musicians and artists a place to hang out, get online, and enjoy music they can’t get anywhere else in town. Emergenza brought all the factions together, beach people, punks, hippies, and good old fashioned rednecks, for one colorful night of entertainment. With only 3 days to squeeze in both Prelims and Semi Finals the competition was fierce with each band wanting to jump right to the finals. Many of them had traveled several hours just for a chance to compete and most played great. The opening act on Thursday was the lads of Sum Rana. They played 1 continuous song that lasted 23 minutes. Completely structured and impressive that it wasn’t an open ended jam. As it turned out one song was all that was needed for them to move on. Next was Jonzed in from St. Augustine, playing straight forward rock that resembled the grunge oof old. They were followed by Feedback who had the biggest following and most mainstream sound of the night. Easily accessible hooks and good live show garnered them the top slot of the night. Then the show took a turn and punks showed up out of nowhere to see the boys of Jolly Roger and The Hopeless. Both played great and got everyone whipped into frenzy, moving them on to the finals. Friday night was like a bag of mixed nuts, each handful of tunes was different. Opening the night was Better Off Bagin, a mix of pop punk and ska. There friends and family skanked them right to the finals. Next up was a male/female duo ala White Stripes. That however was the only similarity between them and Experiment Theory. This Drummer could actually hold a beat and she led the charge from behind the Mapex kit. An upbeat performance won them over a bunch of fans in a city they had never performed in before, and a chance to do it again in the Finals. Keeping with the diversity was Beyond Me. Christian Hardcore…..they moved on as well. Shkopps brought things back down from the heavens with some auxiliary percussion and danceable songs. Then, like the night before, out from beneath the Friday the 13th moon came the punks. Krackerjack stumbled through a 20 minute set that was highlighted by 2 drunks continuously falling down and ultimately getting kicked out. After the dust settled there was still one more act of the night. Mommy’s Mistakes. A very good in your face punk band. This 3 piece did their idols, the Shit Thieves, proud by playing one of the sets of the night and moving on to the Finals. Saturday was not much different than the rest with 6 completely different groups. Leading off the night was Die Tragedy making their first performance ever. They did well while still showing room for improvement. They’ll have plenty of time to develop between now and the Finals in April. Next was The UPS. An electric post hardcore dance band in the vein of Panic! At the Disco. Though most of the tracks were pre recorded, there enthusiasm won them some new fans and a chance to play again. Crome made one of the longest journeys for a first round that I had ever heard of. 4 and a half hours in from Panama City. So, it was very hard for there fans to follow but they made some new friends and finally has played the Jax. Big In Georgia was by far one of the better bands of the weekend. Current and stylish, they brought a busload from out by the beach to support and soak up the 5 points atmosphere. Look for them to do well in the finals. Hairy Buzzard Gizzards will also make another appearance in the Finals. This quirky group busted through at least 10 songs in 25 minutes and reminded me of b-52’s and Devo. Very entertaining. Lastly were the king gentlemen of Flashback who unfortunately got disqualified by playing a bunch of covers. Though entertaining and well played, not real