Alaska’s best local bands, Thera, Static Cycle, laVoy, Saturday Sleeper, and The Lost Concept. Also Rock Hill, South Carolina’s Very own Emery. All played at Infinity Fest 2010, at Change Point. It was put together by: Imperium Productions, City Of Sound, and Alaska’s Rock Alternative 94.7 The End. When I was waiting for my friend to come pick me up, all I thought about was how good the set up was going to be. That’s where Dimond’s Junior/ Senior Prom was held last year, and it was a great venue. We arrived a little late. The show started at 5:30pm and we got there around 6:25pm. We missed The Lost Concept, and three-fourths of laVoy’s set. Shortly upon walking in the doors we headed to The Lost Concept’s merch table and had a few short words either the drummer Benny Maus, Maus said there were about 45-50 people there for their set. That does not surprise me since there were the first to play, and people were still be trickling in like my friend and me. I really wanted to see The Lost Concept. They have not played a show since January. So I caught up with Taylor Ramsdell a Dimond sophomore, to get the scoop. ” It was good, just not a lot of people,” Ramsbell said. I had figured the same thing. The Lost Concept was the opener and Ramsdell said nobody was moving around, or head-banging or moshing, which is kind of accepted at a rock show. Also, The Lost Concept is metal. Guitarist Mason Venhaus was jumping all around the stage being crazy because there was no one there, Ramsdell said. He also checked out the acoustic stage upstairs where he heard Kyle Harrington play some mellow acoustic stuff, which he thought was good. When we walked into the auditorium they had chairs set up in a sort of semi-circle, and the stage was on the right had side in the front. And laVoy was finishing up their set with their song “She,” nice free flowing vibe. Their lead singer was jumping was jumping around the stage playing the tambourine. While Thera was setting up to play next we walked around the lobby, which had huge inflatables for people to play on. Stumbling back into the auditorium, I made my way to the front of the stage to see Thera; I didn’t want to miss their set. Thera (pronounced Th-ear-ah) was just dubbed Anchorage’s PRESS PICKS, best Local and Original Ban, and they did live up to this expectation. They rolled into their first song ” Good Morning, Sunset,” probably one of my favorite songs but wait, I love all their songs. “Good Morning, Sunset” lifts your spirts by lead singer/keys Stephanie Plate’s soft/sweet voice and Mason Vehnaus uplifting guitar riffs, and then they crush you with a hard bass line and growls/screaming from Ronnie Plate. But each song leaves you on the edge, and providing all hope. All of this is crafted into one song, which makes Thera unique and original, but also the best. After Thera’s set I found myself wandering around back in the lobby. I found the acoustic room but didn’t go take a peak, I’m not too sure way. But a Dimond Freshman Amara Meierhoff did, and she said the staircase to the acoustic room was overly hot. Meierhoff also thought they could improve on alternating, who was playing on the main stage and who was playing on the acoustic stage, so everyone could see all the bands play and also gives them more time to set up. ” I think we shouldn’t choose acoustic and main stage people.” But the thing Meierhoff did enjoy was Emery, “Emery was awesome, ” she said. Also, Meierhoff thought the food and drinks were good, churros, Jones Soda and Monster. Static Cycle was the last on the local band to play before the main event. In their first two songs they had technical problems with the microphones. But that didn’t stop the lead singer Jared Navarre from having the crowd clapping and jumping around to their hit “Ill Take You Back.” After Static Cycle played which was an okay set up, their music isn’t really my taste. It took maybe 10 to 15 minutes for Emery to set up. I though it was pretty cool that the band members set their own gear up and tuned their own instruments, instead of sound check guys or a roadie crew member like most bands do. Once they were done with the tuning and getting everything set, the lights went down and into music came on. You could see outlines of bodies walk across the stage and everyone was screaming at that point. I always could tell which band members are from the lower 48 by their faded colored tattoos and very well dressed. Also, Emery’s lead singer asked the crowd: How Many bears have you killed today? The guys also shared with the crowd that Alaska is by far their favorite place to play and visit. They thought Alaskans would be mean and beat them up, all, which is not true. All the guys in Emery could agree we treated them like family and they were very well taken care of. Also, in between songs they shared with the crowd that that did something they never did before, they panned for gold. One of the guys reached in his pocket and pointed his index finger out and said that’s how much gold they acquired. Emery played about a 45 to 50 minute set, a mix of old and new songs. They happened to play my favorite song of theirs, ” The Party Song.” When they started playing everyone around me started jumping and pushing around. It was great. Emery was this Southern hard rock vibe to them that I love. Some bands don’t sound good live, but they certainly did, with a mix of screaming, singing, great bass lines, great guitar riffs, a rockin’ keyboard player and smashing drums. Emery indeed put on an amazing show. All in all the night was great. A nice flow of music throughout the night. There was a friendly and warming feeling, and it seemed like everyone did enjoy themselves. The only thing I wished was that more people had attended the show, because it was really epic.