The second half of the 1st round in Minneapolis definitely fed off the great start we had a couple months ago. Great job to Taylor, Nick, Vin and Darren for setting up some great bands. Thanks to Mark, Pete and Josh for all their help at Club Underground as well. And of course thank you to the bands and the fans of local music in the Twin Cities greater area. Friday, February 16th The first night brought us a very eclectic night for sure. Rock, post hardcore, blues, funk, reggae and even some progressive rock could be heard for hours and hours. Smiling Politely started a little slow, but despite everyone in the band having head colds, they finished very strong. First impression was they were a tight band with pretty good stage presence. These guys also did the little things right with some good transitions between their songs. Up next was a band that traveled from Mankato just for the show: Hallway Affairs was a young and energetic band with a very mainstream, power-pop sound. I appreciated these guys’ dynamics in their songs and their vocals definitely led the way during the songs. Hope to see these guys back with a more polished sound next year. One of the most professional bands of the night was The People’s Chariot. A good vibe for the whole 25 minutes, the trio mixed some cool melodies with some great harmonies. Check these guys out in the Semi-Finals. The most popular and hardest working band of the night was Rerod. A band from the suburb Fridley had the entire place begging for an encore. A solid rock band with a tight rhythm section, these guys are sure to make some moves past this round. With a little work on some stronger vocals that knows how far these guys could get. Great work. The next band lived up to their name: Something Simple is a trio of bass, acoustic and vocals. These guys are young and need some more experience in front of a live audience, but the talent of the acoustic guitar player should grow these guys from the inside out. More work on vocals is needed and a better energy, but again, with more experience comes the knowledge of what you need to perform on stage. Good luck in the future guys. Send Up the Room had a blues, funk-rock mix for their set. Strong vocals and strong musicians throughout made for a very accessible set. Hopefully, these guys will step up their stage presence, because their talent can take their original music to bigger clubs with bigger crowds here in the Twin Cities. These next three bands brought the whole night together. Some blues, reggae and power-pop proved the Emergenza music festival is truly giving some original bands some great opportunities. Absolute Grub was a blues-rock quartet of some pretty young talented guys. The vocals had soul, the guitar player was tasty and the drums and bass really came together for a pocket. A little work on dynamics would really grow the set more, but these guys had everyone’s eye on them. Look for them in the Semi-Finals. High Five gave us our best lead man of the night. A really cool reggae-progressive rock band also kept all the crowds from leaving. The best part was watching their drummer. This guy was fun to watch all by himself. The whole band sounds like they have played for 10 years together. There is no missing part to the High Five. The front man was very creative and you could see their passion for music on stage. Looking forward to seeing the again in Semi-Finals. And lastly, the best band of the night was not to be outdone. Chasing Elroy has an amazing sound, great lead vocals, a great look, and a great attitude and hopefully, some big things for them in the future are about to happen. Loved their stage presence and how well they moved between songs. Good luck to these guys. Saturday, February 17th Saturday night proved to be even better for Minneapolis. Eight great bands brought a great crowd and really set up the S