This past Tuesday, on February 25th, 2014, three national touring acts rolled through the central Indiana city of Kokomo. All three rocked it out at Centerstage Bar and Grill, resulting in a great night of good music. Among the bands were the ever-so-popular RED, and two supporting groups that are quickly increasing in popularity throughout the country, Gemini Syndrome and Emphatic.

Emphatic, the quintet based out of Omaha, Nebraska, kicked off the night. They opened with a phenomenal song called “Damage,” before playing another solid track, this one being the opener from their latest full-length Another Life, which released everywhere last October. Emphatic continued with the rock on “Get Paid” before slowing things down just a bit with “Put Down the Drink.” The band finished things with two more newer songs, including “Remember Me,” the lead single from Another Life, to close out their set. The group brought quite a bit of energy, and they played a nice balance of new and older songs. About half of the set was great. Unfortunately, the other three songs didn’t really catch my attention. The funny part is that the best song Emphatic played during their set was the opener, “Damage,” which has not been released at all, despite the fact that their 2011 major label debut has the same title. Another high for Emphatic was their engaging with the crowd, particularly guitarist and founder Justin McClain, who kept moving around on the stage. He also enjoyed getting near and playing right behind a security guard whose back was turned towards the audience. It was almost like a running joke between McClain and the audience, and the security guard even got a kick out of it too. Not only did Emphatic deliver a pretty good set overall, but they also acted as comic relief. It was a solid way to start the show.

The next band to go on for the night was Gemini Syndrome. The five-piece hard rock outfit from Los Angeles turned things up a few notches, opening with an atmospheric intro, which is actually an excerpt of “Lux,” the title track and closer from their 2013 debut full-length record. “Lux” lead straight into “Pleasure and Pain,” arguably the heaviest song of the set. After that they followed with the vast majority of Lux, playing hit singles like “Basement” and “Falling Apart” along with Synner (the term Gemini Syndrome has affectionately given its fans) favorites “Mourning Star” and “Resurrection,” just to name a few. I reviewed Lux this past October and gave it a favorable score, so I had high expectations going in. However, as a music journalist, I’m always a bit skeptical at first if a band’s intensity will translate over well from the studio recording to the live performance. Gemini Syndrome definitely proved that they can bring it live just as much as they can on the CD itself, and possibly even did better. Adding that to frontman Aaron Nordstrom’s incredible stage presence resulted in a phenomenal set, which ended with the band’s current single at radio, the driving yet accessible “Stardust.” Soon after the group finished with “Stardust,” they tore things down relatively quickly, and one of them even stuck around near the front of the room stamping the forearms of newly converted “Synners” with the band logo. The dedication to their fans appears to be why they have gotten as far as they have in the first place.

There was a fairly long wait in between sets due to RED getting set up, but I knew RED was who the majority of the folks there that night had come to see, so it wasn’t surprising when you could feel the excitement building in the crowd. Eventually though the time came, and the hard rock juggernauts finally took their place on the stage as the headlining act. I’m very familiar with RED, but had never seen them live until this show. I had heard all kinds of praise for their performances, but wanted to see what all of the hype was about for myself. Needless to say, I wasn’t disappointed, not even in the slightest. They played the majority of their newest full-length, Release The Panic, including the heavier tunes like the title track and “Damage,” which were both highlights. Among the newer songs they played was also the yet-to-be-released “Run and Escape,” from Release The Panic Recalibrated. Even taking this into account, they still found the time to play not only the hit singles from 2011’s Until We Have Faces, but also to break out some RED classics, like “Death of Me,” “Mystery of You,” “Already Over,” and even my personal favorite, the less popular “Let Go.” Performing the craziest set of the night, Michael Barnes and company never let up. Not surprisingly, they finished out the night with the definitive RED song, “Breathe Into Me.” Upon leaving the stage, much of the crowd began yelling for an encore, but it didn’t happen. They really didn’t need to play “one more song” though; RED ended their set on an extremely high note.

All three bands were great in their own ways, from comedy to engaging with the fans to melting faces. I am glad I was able to make it out to this show, and I look forward to seeing these groups perform again sometime in the future. RED, Gemini Syndrome and Emphatic all released albums last year, so make sure you support them and pick those up.

I also got the chance to conduct an (albeit brief) interview with Aaron Nordstrom, the frontman of Gemini Syndrome, before the show. You can watch that below.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kv9AG8rVKwc&feature=youtu.be&h=297&w=450]