Epitaph Tour revives punk, indie rock at Masquerade

The Masquerade seems like one of the sketchiest places in Atlanta to hold a concert, but at the same time it is one of the coolest. You somehow feel the music more; the floor literally shakes with the moshing and the vibrations of the music.

This past Tuesday the Masquerade was host to the Epitaph Tour 2005 with Motion City Soundtrack, From First to Last, Scatter the Ashes and Matchbook Romance.

First up was Scatter the Ashes. To be honest, they were not that bad, but at the same time they weren't that good either.

The guitarist was awesome, and the bassist was good, but the lead singer was a little too out there. All the touching and feeling himself up didn't win the crowd over. But they did have an interesting sound that was a mix of punk and metal. It definitely made you listen to the music and wonder what their other songs sounded like.

Then there was From First to Last. It seemed that there were a lot of kids who came to hear them. And rightfully so. They are a good band that keeps the crowd entertained.

During the show the lead singer Sonny Moore said, "Hey does the stage smell like feet to you?" after being told that the stage had been cleaned he said, "Oh, well, it's my shirt then. Kids, don't wear shirts more then three days when on tour."

They are the typical punk band, guys wearing girls' pants that are two sizes too small with crazy hair.

There was definitely something about them that seemed like they were from the old days of punk rock. The crowd really got going for them and by the end of the set they were jumping and screaming the words to all the songs.

Motion City Soundtrack was the perfect band to play after From First to Last. The crowd was already geared up so when Motion City took the stage there was even more crowd surfing and moshing then before. Bodies were flying and kids were singing.

They had their own type of punk music as well. But unlike Scatter the Ashes who infused metal with punk, Motion City Soundtrack seemed to infuse some hybrid form of pop into their songs. They were all very catchy and made you sing along even if you had no clue what the lyrics were.

It was at this point that the crowd was the largest. So many kids had come to see Motion City Soundtrack that one wondered how anyone could follow up their performance.

However, Matchbook Romance was the perfect way to end the show. Although they don't have as hard an edge as the other bands, there was still a good deal of crowd surfing going on.

They also made the crowd do what the other bands didn't-sing along to the music.

The lead singer Andrew Jordan said, "We in Matchbook Romance have a thing where you have to sing. Either you sing the words to the song or you make up your own. We don't care, just sing."

And the crowd did just that. In the background of every song that was played by Matchbook Romance one could hear the crowd singing the words. The last song that they played, "Promise," was one that they let the crowd start and in the middle let the crowd just sing away. It was almost like saying, "Here is a song for the fans, and we want you to sing it to us."

All in all it was a good show. While punk was the main characteristic running through the bands, there was enough diversity to keep everyone happy and entertained.