Last Saturday I joined a full house at The Loft in Lansing for a Powerface reunion show. And there I realized how powerful reunion shows are. It's more than just a chance for the band to pull out their instruments, get together and play again... it's also for the fans.
Powerface was part of the 1990 graduating class of Holt High School. Therefore, the crowd was filled with a bunch of drunk cougars, drunk cougars' husbands, and a bunch of 25+ fans. The fans jammed to their favorite songs from their adolescent years.
Although the band was pumped to play a show again and had the friends-from-high-school relationship with the crowd, the show proved to be about more than just the music. The crowd was singing along to every song, but clearly the earlier years (The Method) of the band were their favorites, as singer, Jeremy Keinitz observed. Not only were the lyrics know after about 15 years, but the members of the crowd kept reliving the memories of high school, shows, and more importantly, the shows Powerface played at the old Small Planet, which is now closed.
Powerface had not performed in the last six years, but you wouldn't be able to tell from their it's-like-riding-a-bike attitude and execution. The complete 90s style nu-metal/rap metal band retained the loyalty of their high school fans as well as gained a few from the younger crowd that showed up too, most likely to see the other bands. Keinitz, Elijah White (guitar) and Jeremy Schopp (bass) are part of Coal Mine Canary, which also played that night. And Chris Doerr (drums) plays in Seizure Lake, also a guest that night, and Steve Nygard is part of Purgatory Grove, another local Lansing metal band.
Even though Powerface is the pure 90s type metal fused with rap, they are not a band that should stay in the 90s. Seeing this band made me regret the fact that I graduated in 2007 and the fact that I grew up in Birmingham, Michigan. To have this band play during my teenage years would have totally changed my interest in music- bringing me into metal way sooner than I actually was.
Listening to the people at the show talk about "back in the day," and how the band interacted with them and made their own comments about the good old days made me realize just how important reunion shows are for people. They give everyone a chance to relive those days that they regret are in the past and give them a chance to get back to the life most of them have left behind.
Powerface was part of the 1990 graduating class of Holt High School. Therefore, the crowd was filled with a bunch of drunk cougars, drunk cougars' husbands, and a bunch of 25+ fans. The fans jammed to their favorite songs from their adolescent years.
Although the band was pumped to play a show again and had the friends-from-high-school relationship with the crowd, the show proved to be about more than just the music. The crowd was singing along to every song, but clearly the earlier years (The Method) of the band were their favorites, as singer, Jeremy Keinitz observed. Not only were the lyrics know after about 15 years, but the members of the crowd kept reliving the memories of high school, shows, and more importantly, the shows Powerface played at the old Small Planet, which is now closed.
Powerface had not performed in the last six years, but you wouldn't be able to tell from their it's-like-riding-a-bike attitude and execution. The complete 90s style nu-metal/rap metal band retained the loyalty of their high school fans as well as gained a few from the younger crowd that showed up too, most likely to see the other bands. Keinitz, Elijah White (guitar) and Jeremy Schopp (bass) are part of Coal Mine Canary, which also played that night. And Chris Doerr (drums) plays in Seizure Lake, also a guest that night, and Steve Nygard is part of Purgatory Grove, another local Lansing metal band.
Even though Powerface is the pure 90s type metal fused with rap, they are not a band that should stay in the 90s. Seeing this band made me regret the fact that I graduated in 2007 and the fact that I grew up in Birmingham, Michigan. To have this band play during my teenage years would have totally changed my interest in music- bringing me into metal way sooner than I actually was.
Listening to the people at the show talk about "back in the day," and how the band interacted with them and made their own comments about the good old days made me realize just how important reunion shows are for people. They give everyone a chance to relive those days that they regret are in the past and give them a chance to get back to the life most of them have left behind.
