My love for the Blood Brothers was an accident, having heard of them only through various magazines and websites naming them as the "it" band, I had not heard their music until a vacation to England, where I saw them playing, by chance at a club called the Garage. After that, they became one of my favorite bands, I bought their albums and even made friends with a few of them at the show, keeping in touch through e-mail. On Friday July, 25th, I got to see them again, this time in my own hometown.

I arrived at 5:45, about 5 minutes before the first band of the night Dance Disaster Movement took the stage, DDM would probably fit better at the previous week's Locust show however their blend of infectious keyboard riffs, ambitious vocals and to say the least, entertaining dancing found a place in the heart of the crowd. Dance Disaster Movement said Orlando was a "C" in terms of crowd quality...but an "A-" on a curve of the south. They played around 30 minutes, and were well received by the Social crowd, which at this time found the club around 65% full.

To my surprise, the supposed 2nd act of the night, True North had cancelled, will someone please fill me in on why? They cancelled last Sunday's Against Me! show as well, what was supposed to be True North 2 times in 5 days turned out to be 0 times in 5 days.

Up next was Seattle's These Arms Are Snakes, I had never seen them before, however have heard some mp3s and what not. Having tremendous stage energy and technical lighting added up to a nice and solid set. The crowd seemed receptive, although at times a little dead.

The next band to grace the stage was the headliner, Seattle's Blood Brothers. They took the stage in front of a full Social, wasting little time going into "Fucking's greatest hits" to which the crowd, surprisingly did not move. However after Jordan gave a speech about moving and Johnny called Orlando "Tampa", then later "St. Tampa" the crowd seemed to get the message. They played "Kiss Of The Octopus" next, which was met with a large response, as the tightly packed floor began to move around much more than usual. The stage energy was, as always incredible, as the 2 flamboyant singers screamed and jumped their heads off, while Morgan, Cody and Mark all kept the energy alive on their respective instruments. They drew songs from all of their full lengths, however mostly concentrating on "Burn Piano Island, Burn" which was released earlier this year on Artist's Direct. "Birth Skin/ Death Leather" was next followed by "Jennifer". During the 45 minute set, "Ambulance Vs. Ambulance" "USA Nails" and others were heard. Rounding out the set was "Cecilia and the Silhouette Saloon". To miss the Blood Brothers in your town is nothing short of a crime, and their upcoming tour with Cursive should be fantastic.