Matthew Morgis

It’s doubtful many people knew what to expect last Sunday night at Eleanor Rigby’s. Speaker company Altec Lansing sponsored the show that Red Jumpsuit Apparatus was headlining by giving away 300 VIP tickets. Things were a tad crazy to start, with the public slightly confused by the blocked-off area in the middle of the floor, but things quickly settled down.

Local artist Matt Parsons took the stage at 7 p.m. for a short six-song, 15-minute set. His songs were somewhat mundane, short-lived and sounded very similar, but not too bad for a one-man acoustic performance. Parsons’ best song came with “A Song for You,” an upbeat, cheerful song, much like his personality.

Alamance picked things up very quickly. A four-piece band out of New Jersey who has played The Van’s Warped Tour stunned the crowd and quickly engaged the audience by playing a medley of covers from Lady Gaga and The Black Eyed Peas. Frontman Josh Sorhagen played guitar and keys while singing. Later the band played another cover, Leona Lewis’ “Bleeding Love,” and earned the first crowd surfer of the night. Alamance closed its 30-minute set with a well-written original tune titled “Your Eyes.” The band proclaimed it has a music video for the song that is going to be released on MTV and Fuse. It’s a radio-ready ballad that should take the band far. Alamance was definitely one of the better bands on the bill.

Things then made a complete 360-degree turn. Seasons After of Kansas took the stage. Singer Chris Schlichting covered his face with a bandana and sunglasses and also wore black gloves. The band came out with heavy guitars, pulsing drums and screaming vocals. It wasn’t bad by any means but loosely fit the bill compared to the first two acts. Parsons, the first performer, wore a shirt that read “Everyone in the world is beautiful,” while Seasons After’s idea of a happy song was one about the end of the world. The filled all-ages area broke out into most pits and multiple crowd surfers floated towards the stage.

The best band of the night, The Veer Union, was on next. Singer Crispin Earl came out sporting a wicked mohawk while the band cranked into “Where I Wanna Be.” The crowd of 615 people, filled with teenagers, started moshing right away. After the band’s second single “Youth of Yesterday,” the band had the crowd screaming for free copies of its CD. Then Earl walked over to the drum set as the rest of the band left the stage. The drummer and singer both played an awesome solo together, switching places and using every piece of the drum set they could.

The rest of the members came back out and they all erupted into another song. The crowd went insane with a huge most pit in the VIP section. The crowd ate up every ounce of the following song, “Seasons,” which has earned nationwide radio play.

Veer Union then played the rock version of A Perfect Circle’s “Judith.” Finally, it was time for its last song. “Darker Side of Me” is the tune the band chose, and everyone in the crowd jumped insanely up and down. The song was amazing and helped make Veer Union the best band to perform all night.

Red Jumpsuit Apparatus singer Ronnie Winter walked on stage not long after Veer Union’s set with an acoustic guitar. He went right into the band’s song “Your Guardian Angel” without any introduction. The rest of the band joined him for the next song “Damn Regret.” The band members had no energy and acted like they didn’t want to be on stage. The crowd, which was probably still jacked up from The Veer Union, still moshed slightly in the beginning. That behavior quickly died down as the group was not into the show at all. After every song, Winter would walk back to the drums, dry himself off and just go into the next song without saying anything. Red Jumpsuit got the best reaction from the audience during “Face Down,” its most popular song. The band introduced the song with the “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” theme song. The band rushed through 10 songs in less than an hour and left without an encore performance.