Another week has gone by here in Boston, and with came some of the first snow of the season which quickly turned the whole city into an ice rink. Bruised asses and random public face plants soon followed, but nevertheless, the rock went on. So I’ll quit rubbing my sore spots just long enough to tell you how the weekends went. We only had one day of shows on the 9th of February, and some great returning bands graced us with their presence yet again. Nemesis executed a nasty metal set with grueling riffs dripping of pump your fist and the air attitude, and blazing double kick drum madness. Heartless returned under a new name and more simplified line-up with some old tunes and new ones. Their sound was distinctly emo-core but not in a predictable way. Taking Cadence had a great feel for rocking the verses into heavy breakdowns that marched with a screamo style and great dueling guitar licks. Bird Mancini I was more than happy to welcome back to the Festival. Despite that fact that only three people were there specifically for them, not a person in the room wasn’t giving the husband/wife duo their full attention. Great bluesy vocals and a mixture of percussion, acoustic guitars, accordions, and several other instruments gave them a full, warm overtone that two people can rarely achieve. Paradigm Twilight was a severely progressive band mixing rock and funk for a uniquely busy sounding style that worked, without confusing the audience. Veneer was a straight forward rock act with very simple yet ornately crafted tunes that teetered dangerously on the edge of repetitive but never quite got there, resulting in a very smartly written performance. In the end it was Veneer, Paradigm Twilight, Bird Mancini and Taking Cadence moving on to the next round. Skip ahead a week to the 15th and we had 8 more bands rock the Middle East. Punk rockers the Pity Whores, in spite of being really, really drunk, played well. But hey, it’s punk rock right? I don’t think punk sounds right if you are sober anyways. Just don’t fall into the drum kit next guys. Purity’s Demise returned with a great metal set blending several styles into a rap-rock, hardcore set. Dirt Water Refuge, formerly the Johnny Mazcko Band, played some great singer/songwriter tunes filled out with a great backing band and ripping guitar and harmonica solos. Black Trip was one of my favorite metal bands from last year and they’ve only improved. I’d imagine that if you hooked up a generator to their hair windmills, we’d be on the right path to solve this country’s energy problems. The Evening Groove were the exact opposite, and like the name implies, they brought a serious groove element to the evening. Great jazzy-funk-blues driven by a pocket drummer made me want to chill out with a nice scotch and smoke a bowl. Ivy Hill was a high energy funk band fronted by a girl with searing vocals and incredibly dance-y breakdowns that got everyone moving. After My Own was the weirdest mixture of psychedelic funk-blues I’d heard in some time, and amazingly the pulled the whole fusion off rather well. Dominguez was a great group of kids playing a very modern edged grunge style. I always say this too, but if I could play that well when I was a young as they were, I’d be an amazing musician by now. In the end we had The Evening Groove, After My Own, Ivy Hill, and Dominguez moving on to the next round. The next night brought yet again a very eclectic mixture of bands to the club. Nobody’s Hero is a really aggressive emo-core band with overtones of metal and very groovy breakdowns overlayed with mostly melodic vocals. The Elena James Band fronted by the lovely Elena, had nicely simple songs with no more than four chords and story-like lyrics interlaced with nicely placed guitar solos. Lorna Blue was a great<