Nintendo Fusion tour:

Video games and live music – what more could a person ask for? Well, for those big Nintendo fans, a chance to play the new Nintendo system, Wii, was featured at Assembly Hall last Friday, Nov. 10 at the Nintendo Fusion Tour. Those who invested $15 into the night were given the opportunity to preview video games, such as The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, while watching any of the five bands performing.

The evening started with Victory Records band The Sleeping. The New York band opened the show with a half-hour set that consisted of tracks from their two releases, Believe What We Will Tell You and Questions and Answers. Even though Assembly Hall was not nearly full at this point in the evening, the crowd on the floor seemed to enjoy tracks such as “Don’t Hold Back” and “Loud & Clear.” The band had a lot of energy on stage; singer Joseph Zizzo did not stay in the same place long, and when he did, he was thrashing his head around and screaming into his mic.

The audience loosened up more for the second band, Plain White T’s, from the Chicago suburbs. The White T’s have three full-length records Stop, All That We Needed and Every Second Counts. Although they were not thrashing around like The Sleeping, The White T’s stayed in motion throughout their performance. Girls went wild for vocalist Tom Higgenson’s solo performance of the song “Hey There Delilah,” which he played acoustically with a single spotlight on his fragile looking body. The band ended the evening with the radio single “Hate (I Really Don’t Like You),” which left audience members singing along and playing air guitar.

Emery, a Christian band from Seattle, Was., followed Plain White T’s. Their live act was high-energy, with members of the band moving back and forth on stage throughout the set. Some songs were slower with comprehendible lyrics, whereas other songs were skewed with screaming choruses. As the band progressed through their set, more people started to sing along. Emery drove some of the kids on the floor to start pushing each other around and sparked a few crowd surfers. Moshing and surfing proved to be

a difficult task though, as most people on the floor were about 16 years old.

After Emery, another Christian band from Ohio, Relient K, took the stage, although their style was different and consisted of pop ballads and piano breakdowns rather than screaming choruses. Relient K’s claim to fame is their re-recording of

a song from the popular Christian children show, Veggie Tales, called “Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything” for the 2002 VeggieTales’ movie Jonah. Relient K has

a pretty wide fanbase with such songs as chart topper “Be My Escape.” During some songs, singer Matt Thiessen jumped back and forth from the mic stand to the piano. The group played a longer set than the other opening bands and moved much of the audience to sing along. After their performance, a substantial amount of people left the show.

After three and a half hours of opening bands, headliner Hawthorne Heights finally took the stage. Hawthorne Heights was the only band with a backdrop. On their speakers were banners with motel rooms, and behind them hung the Bates Hotel house with a sign that read “Hawthorne Heights, Vacancy.”

Hawthorne Heights opened with tracks off their first record, The Silence in Black and White, like “Blue Burns Orange” and “Life on Standby,” before moving on to “This is Who We Are” off their latest record, If Only You Were Lonely. The most appealing aesthetic about their set was the use of color and lights on stage. Their bodies were painted green and red by the lights, and the background reflected eerie shades of blues and reds.

The night was a mix of slow, poppy bands and screaming, high energy acts. Not only did five bands play, but attendees got a chance to try out the new Nintendo Wii. The show was not sold out, the crowd was not intense, but those who attended seemed to have

a good time singing along and playing video games.

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