I got the tickets to this show for free, so I really wouldn't have cared if this show sucked. But it didn't....well, kinda.

We went through the security checks where they informed us that there was no smoking or crowd surfing at the Trocadero. We went inside looked at some merch and stopped to see who was playing. I didn't know much about the non-Reggie bands playing, so I was curious as to what they would sound like. Apparently Finch was the first band, and they just changed their name to Senses Failed or something. Whoever they were they weren't memorable at all, in that they sound like every other power-pop with screaming band out there.

Up next was My Chemical Romance, who seemed to have a large number of fans in the building. I know a bunch of people who like them so I was hopeful that they would bring on the rock.

My Chemical Romance isn't that good at all. Their songs made no impression on me. The only exception is one song they played that sounded like Rush. It had 80's style duelling guitars and a sweet rolling drum thing going on - that was cool.

My friends and I started to work our way towards the front. I never had anything against Midtown, I just think they are an OK band. I gotta say though, if you are a fan of Midtown, you should see them live, they put on a good show. I wasn't really into most of their songs, but they really do like to rock out. If I liked their sound more I definetly would have been digging their set. They did a lot of guitar tricks, throwing them around and holding them up in the air. I actually really enjoyed the last song they played.

So then it came time for the only band I was really there to see, Reggie and The Full Effect....in FUCKIN' full effect! The entire band, wearing red suit coats, ties, mostaches, and long haired wigs took the stage. Hungry Bear, fully dressed in a bear costume, came out holding up a microphone. James a.k.a. Reggie a.k.a. Paco thanked the audience for showing up that night. Immediately Hungry Bear a.k.a. Sean from Coalesce threw himself forward screaming "LET'S GET IT OOOOOOONNNN!!!!" starting off one of the most fun/wacky/entertaining musical performances I have ever seen. The first song, "Apocalypse WOW!", set the stage for the songs that would follow. This band is a great group of performers. The guitarists and bassist were all over these awesome and funny "gods of rock" poses. James kept coming down into the audience and singing along with the kids. He also let the crowd carry some of the vocals, but he didn't over-do it *coughdashboardcoughtakingbacksundaycough*. The whole set was spectacular. Highlights included the performance of "Better For You", the sweet ass keyboard solo in "What's Wrong?", Hungry Bear constantly crowd surfing (despite Trocadero rules, ha ha take that Trocadero!) and running around in the audience, the cover of the Slayer song "Raining Blood", James' hilarious explaination of how he came up with "Paco" (it involves Pizza delivery and a lonely middle aged woman), and the final Reggie song of the night "Something I'm Not", which left Hungry Bear screaming for about a minute. A couple minutes later James came out wearing a powdered wig, shiny clothing, and roller blades. He then performed two Fluxuation songs and also mooned the crowd when his pants started falling off. Then, about 10 minutes after Fluxuation, the band came out in full gothic get up. They then performed two Common Denominators songs. Their set ended with James standing in the middle of the stage in his underpants, wearing a pentagram necklace, chest covered in blood, and repeatedly throwing a gong at the ground. If you ever want to be vastly entertained, see Reggie and the Full Effect live.

I was gonna give this a 10, but since I gotta rate the show as a whole and the other bands weren't really that good, it gets a 9.