April 14th, 2009 
James Shotwell 
The Sweet Brag Tour
The Devil Wears Prada, A Day To Remember, Sky Eats Airplane, Emarosa
Clutch Cargos, Pontiac, MI
4/9/09
This is the year of the scene core band if there ever has been one. ADTR’s last record Homesick debuted in the top 20 on Billboard. Outside of the that, the band’s current tour, the “Sweet Brag” tour has sold out in every single city. A collection of Hot Topic heroes with synth laced hardcore and timeless breakdown prefaces has never done better on the road and [UTG] Grant and I got to see it first hand on Thursday of last week.
Emarosa: The always entertaining Johnny Craig took the stage with his latest musical project to begin the night. Craig, famously from Dance Gavin Dance joined Emarosa after being kicked out of DGD for drug use. Well, from personal interaction, I can’t say much has changed on that front, as Johnny could barely form a sentence less than 20 min. before set time, but once he hit the stage, it was on. The band played electrifyingly and Johnny was pitch perfect throughout. They don’t quite fit the whole brocore scene that was displayed, but they rocked it regardless.
Sky Eats Airplane: I’ve never been a fan of this act. I think their sound, while it has its moments, is too similar to the latest flare in the sing/scream seen. I was prepared to be wowed however, once they took the stage. enough people telling you that a band has more to offer than you think and it makes you give them another chance, but I regret it. The layers of synth and duel chugging guitars is too much sound for a live setting, or at least this one. It all came out as loud distortion and I don’t know anyone who can say they loved what was seen.
A Day To Remember: This band is the reason I went. Homesick is an album that slays unendingly and I wanted to see their ability to pull it off live. The absence of guitarist Tom was a bit sad, but the band made up for it with energy. This is a co-headlining tour, so we still got a full length set which featured next to no wasted minutes. The music was constant and the breakdowns frequent. I ave to admit, the se of the drum trigger for digital bass hits was a bit overused. It causes distortion with too frequent of use and that occured multiple times during the set. However, vocalist Jeremy was on top of his game and much stronger than he’d been on previous tours I’d seen. The set covered most fan favorites between their last two records with one throwback to their original release as well. The crowd moved and sang every note and I don’t know how you could ask for anything else from a band.
The Devil Wears Prada: The [UTG] crew did not stick around to see TDWP [neither did a good portion of the audience], but it was not because we’re trying to hate on TDWP, it was just late and we were wore down. Also, they have a new album coming out soon and I’m sure we’ll be promoting it like no one’s business. So stay tuned, there will be TDWP news.
*Written By: James Shotwell*
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