Snowed In 2014
Review by Bridjet Mendyuk
Grog Shop & B-Side // Cleveland, OH // November 14, 2014
A sold-out annual show thrown in Cleveland, Ohio this past weekend proves, once again, that Cleveland has one of the best scenes in the midwest. Sponsored by Alternative Press and other Cleveland businesses, this year’s Snowed In did not disappoint. Various local acts played on the main stage at the Grog Shop and in the basement of the venue, which is called B-Side.
The night started off with 15-20 minute sets by Persons/Places/Things, Bygone Days, Head North, and Slow to Speak playing at the same time upstairs and downstairs. Local favorites, Runaway Brother, put on a great set full of upbeat jams including “Blueberries” and “Lola.”
Following Runaway Brother was Somos, a band that is currently on tour with Modern Baseball and Knuckle Puck. The band played songs from their recent record Temple of Plenty. The band recently had their van break on them mid-tour and asked fans to donate to get them back on the road. The highlight of their set was definitely when they played “Dead Wrong.”
Everyone started to crowd into the venue when Foxing took the stage. The band was the opener for Brand New on their most recent tour. Naturally, fans belted every word to “Rory,” their most popular song.
Knuckle Puck’s performance brought tons of kids crowdsurfing and stagediving during their song “No Good.” Their high energy set was full of gang vocals and loud riffs. The band played songs mostly off their recent release While I Stay Secluded.
My personal favorite act of the night was seeing Aaron West and The Roaring Twenties take the stage. For those who don’t know, Aaron West and The Roaring Twenties is Dan “Soupy” Campbell from The Wonder Years and a guitar. Flying in from Nashville to Cleveland that day, Soupy said he was exhausted and sad all the time. Oh, so incredibly sad. His album We Don’t Have Each Other is almost a spoken word record about his recent divorce and his wife’s miscarriage. A 180 turn from the encouraging words he speaks to the crowd during TWY’s shows, Soupy showed the crowd his most vulnerable and excruciatingly depressing side. The room instantly got quiet as he started to talk about his father passing away. When he opened up with the song “Our Apartment,” I felt like my heart got punched in the face. There was a girl in front of me crying her eyes out, I almost feel bad he lays his diary out for everyone to sing-a-long with every night while he’s the only one who has to take his songs home with him.
After Aaron West, it felt like everyone was exhausted from the emotional set Soupy played. While a great show thus far, Modern Baseball had fans going nuts. They opened up with “Fine, Great” off their most recent album You’re Gonna Miss It All. Everyone in the crowd was dancing, moshing, crowdsurfing, hanging from the rafters, and singing along with the band. The band played a 17 song set which included songs from their first debut album Sports. The group ended their set on their most recent hit “Your Graduation.”
