After a very very busy two weeks for Emergenza with four concerts each weekend - that’s about 60 hours of concerts and nearly 500 musicians per weekend – we are slowing down a touch. Only two cities will be hosting Emergenza this weekend – Montreal and Chicago. Buffalo and Toronto are the first two cities that wrapped up their eliminatory round, the first one February 15th, the second one last weekend. Toronto will begin its second step on March the 17th, while bands from Buffalo will have to wait till April 22nd for their semifinal round… This week marks the beginning (March the 4th) of our Chicago ‘marathon’, with concerts running for three consecutive weekends. Because of the amount of bands that registered, some nights in Chicago will have nine bands performing, giving us a grand total of 104 bands in three weeks! The second week of March – the 9th to the 12th – will finally begin the second set of Eliminatory round in Washington at the Velvet Lounge, after a one month and a half wait, with 21 bands playing in three days with hopes of charming the audience enough as to vote them into the semi-final round at Five next May. The second set of Eliminatory round concerts will take place in Philadelphia next week, on the 11th. 32 bands will fight to gain their spot to showcase again at the North by Northwest in the semifinal round starting April the 22nd . Boston and Ottawa bands are still beginning to warm up for the rest of the competition… March the 25 is just round the corner! HEY! If you are a musician taking part to Emergenza Festival, you are welcome to attend the gigs! Just be sure to put your name on the VIP list!