Smile for them

There was no need for protection during rest this past Saturday night as Armor for Sleep and Mae took the floor for a one-of-a-kind performance.

Fans that purchased tickets for the Armor for Sleep show at Mohawk Place were supposed to be in for a treat as their show merged with Mae's Club Infinity date, thus turning the filled venue into a mini-festival of sorts.

Unfortunately, the treat wasn't too sweet, as the only performances worth watching were from the Armor for Sleep tour.

With such a large amount of performers, the venue quickly made a second smaller stage where the lesser-known acts took the reigns. Opening for the larger main acts were the underwhelming Settings, Between the Trees and Automatic Loveletter.

Closing out the smaller stage was the latest band to jump aboard the Blink 182 clone train, A Cursive Memory. Their youthful high-energy performance was obviously hindered by a lack of space on the tiny stage, but A Cursive Memory was able to man up and still put on an entertaining set for the smaller crowd.

The Honorary Title toned down the mood with a slower, more melodic approach, opposed in style to A Cursive Memory's, but the audience, now moved over to the main stage, seemed to enjoy them more.

Co-headliner Armor for Sleep was next on the bill, and presented with the task of competing against piano-pop heavyweight Mae, Armor for Sleep proved to be the far more entertaining act.

Following a mass exodus of the audience on the main floor after The Honorary Title's set ended, Armor for Sleep took to the stage, opening with "Smile for the Camera." Lead singer Ben Jorgensen commanded the attention of the much smaller crowd with intensity unmatched by any of the other bands.

Unfazed by the lack of crowd support aside from the faithful fans towards the front of the barricade, Jorgensen led the band into their varied set of tracks from both their new album Smile for Them and What to do When You are Dead.

Once the band began to play some of their harder material such as "Car Underwater" and "The Truth about Heaven," the audience picked up its pace, thus pumping up both guitarist PJ DeCicco and bassist Anthony Dilonno into a frenzy of guitar thrashing slash random violent movements.

Before leading into their next track, Jorgensen informed the audience members of the near-death experience the band encountered hours before the Buffalo "Sleeping with Giants" show earlier this year.

"This is our first show back here after our accident on our last tour...I'm just happy to be alive," Jorgensen said.

Often criticized for their poor live performances and more specifically the lack of album quality vocals from Jorgensen, he decided to finally lay those rumors to rest. The stage was the grave, his energy was the shovel, and his intense vocal prowess was the dirt as he powered through tracks like "Hold the Door," and "Chemicals," his poor performance requiems.

Ending the set with the only track played from their first album "Dream to Make Believe," Jorgensen ripped the microphone off its stand and with his flawless, swooping hair, stood right in front of the crowd and sang alongside the band's diehard fans.

Any band would have a hard time following such an energetic set, and it proved to be just the case for the headliner Mae.

Known widely for their quality albums, the band has never been able to shake the belief that their live show was lacking anything memorable. With a sickly-sounding lead singer, Dave Elkins, their show proved to be more worthy for the side stage than being alongside Armor for Sleep or The Honorary Title.

Flocks of tight, Mae endorsed green T-shirt-wearing bros, wanting to show off their emotional side, were in heaven as the band trudged through a bevy of truly generic material, including "Suspension" and "Embers and Envelopes." And like every time they've played in Buffalo, the band presented nothing worth the $18 admission being charged at the door.

While the bill boasted a night full of great music, the stage truly belonged to the only bright spot of the evening, Armor for Sleep.