Show Review: AP Tour displays "Bands You Need To Know

Alternative Press magazine has gotten to the point where it can make or break bands in its "100 Bands You Need To Know" issue, so it only makes sense the magazine would make a tour surrounding the issue to capitalize.The second annual "Bands You Need To Know" tour hit The Music Box at the Fonda on March 24 to a packed crowd.

Forever The Sickest Kids kicked off the show, unfortunately before I got there. The Dallas-based sextet is causing quite a stir though, so I do recommend checking them out.

Next up was Sonny, the new project from ex-From First To Last frontman Sonny Moore. If you're expecting crashing guitars and crazy screaming, think again. This band has keys and synth and is a lot mellower than his previous outfit.

Moore has an extremely passionate following though, and they screamed every word with him as he did a half-hour set from the demos on his MySpace like "Signal," "Copaface Part 2" and "Glow Worm."

Pop-rock foursome The Matches were up next. If you read the cover story of our last issue, you know that I believe this Oakland-based group is on the rise to stardom. They reinforced my beliefs with a strong, eight-song set that the Los Angeles crowd seemed to thoroughly enjoy.

The band blended tracks from all three of its albums well, playing songs like "Sunburn Versus The Rhino Virus," "AM Tilts," "Wake The Sun" and "Sick Little Suicide." Frontman Shawn Harris and guitarist Jon DeVoto have their guitar work perfected and it was fun to watch them play off of each other.

The co-headliners have been alternating who plays first, and tonight was The Rocket Summer's turn. Coming out of Colleyville, Texas, The Rocket Summer is the brainchild of 25-year-old Bryce Avary.

Playing mostly uplifting power-pop songs, the band spanned its three records well too, getting the crowd going with tracks like "Break It Out," "Cross My Heart," "So Much Love" and "Brat Pack."

Avary is the only permanent member of the band, and records all the instruments himself. He showed this off by having the sound guy record a clip of him playing each instrument and then looped it back to make a song.

All Time Low closed the show. This Maryland-based quartet plays super catchy pop-punk songs and draws a heavy influence from Blink 182.

Kicking off with "Six Feet Under The Stars," the band played an energetic hour-long set that got the crowd going. The band played a pretty well done cover of Rhianna's "Umbrella," and closed on hit "Dear Maria."

The crowd screamed for an encore, and the band delivered with the power ballad "Remembering Sunday."

There's no way of knowing whether these truly are the bands of the future, but for $13.50 a ticket (including a one-year subscription to the magazine) it was one of the most economical and entertaining shows I've been to in a while.