Escape the Fate, Alesana, Motionless in White - Town Ballroom, Buffalo NY - 02/16/2011

By Mike Suicide

Buffalo, NY- Escape the Fate rolled into Buffalo NY to play at the Town Ballroom with supporting acts Alesana, and Motionless in White.  The crowd was estimated at just under a thousand, not bad for an Emo…um…er…Post-Hardcore show on a weeknight.  This genre of music is defined by its heavy rhythms juxtaposed with emotional lyrics and blend of both melodic and screaming vocals.

Motionless in White was the first to hit the stage. The bands name was taken from the popular Eighteen Visions song of the same name. The lead singer Chris Cerulli has a bit of a Marilyn Manson vibe going for him. The band is pretty well put together and displayed it during their performance.

Alesana was next up, all dressed in black suits and ties. The lead vocalist Dennis Lee apparently has beating his tour mates to the food because he looked like he was spilling out of all his clothes. I only bring this up because it was quite uncomfortable to look at. I’m not sure this band will progress any further than their current success, since they don’t have any stand out qualities. The crowd seemed to be enjoying them, but then again the average age of the crowd was 16 yrs old.

Escape The Fate has a bit of history for their relatively short existence. Their first lead vocalist Ronnie Radke just got out of the tank for accessory to murder and Max Greene the current bassist wasn't at the show and is rumored to be resting at home. I never did figure out who filled in for him on this night as it was rather glossed over. Craig Mabbitt formerly of Blessthefall is a competent lead singer who has a solid voice. While everyone in this band has star quality, I think the real stand out member is Bryan "Monte" Money. This kid can rip on the guitar and is a real natural. They played songs from all their albums and had a few particular standouts such as "Zombie Dance," "Dying Is Your Latest Fashion" and "This War Is Ours". This band is on the way up and will be around for a while if they can keep themselves together.

Overall, I noticed a level of arrogance among these bands that I haven’t witnessed in quite some time. It was quite off putting. By talking to them you would think they really had big album sales under their belts (which they do not). It is definitely worth mentioning that f.y.e. was on hand selling CDs which included an autograph session by the band. This was nice to see since CD sales are down due to iTunes and the like. I’m not sure that the bands truly appreciated that a big name music store actually sent staff to sell their albums. I’d still say that this show is worth getting out to see, since the bands for better or worse gave an energetic performance.