Dommin and the Birthday Massacre Make Harpos Show Their Own

Although it was interesting to see such a array of different bands the sharp contrasts between them was a bit much.

In the end, it was Dommin and The Birthday Massacre who made the show.

As always, Harpos began the evening with a couple of local bands, neither of which were very impressive.

The regular show opened with Japanese electronic band Aural Vampire, who had a nice little crowd on the main floor for their set.

The band features vocalist Exo-Chika and music from Raveman and they mix synthpop with industrial elements to create what can only be described as a mix somewhere between Daft Punk and Gorillaz.

Unfortunately, the same level of talent is not there.

The music itself is guaranteed to make you want to move but the vocalist's voice is not very strong and the pair spent more time talking to the crowd and performing bizarre movements on stage than they did actually singing.

However, the people that came out to see them certainly enjoyed it and they were extremely gracious towards the fans thanking them for coming out, handing out gifts and spending time afterwards taking pictures and giving out hugs.

Gothic rock band Dommin have made a name for themselves by being one of the hardest working bands out there, spending the last year touring with a number of different bands.

They have visited the Michigan area quite a few times and have put together their own fan base who have followed them from show to show and made themselves known throughout their set on Friday.

Each time the band makes another trip here they are growing stronger and stronger and more polished and their set at Harpos lived up to that as the band ripped through some of their strongest songs off of their debut album Love Is Gone.

Songs like "Tonight", "New" and "My Heart Your Hands" sounded fresh and better than ever and their performance of their next single "Closure" stole the show as they prompted the crowd to sing along as they created footage for their upcoming video.

This particular tour was a co-headlining one featuring The Birthday Massacre and Black Veil Brides and unfortunately on this night The Birthday Massacre were not the closers.

During their set, the synthpop band pulled out a number of songs off of their latest album Pins and Needles including the beautiful "Always" and "Shallow Grave".

Classic songs "Video Kid", "Falling Down", "Blue" and closer "Happy Birthday" all sounded great and kept the crowd singing and moving along.

Vocalist Chibi has a amazing range and their songs move through a number of different genres making each one stand completely on it's own.

Had the show ended here, it would have been the perfect evening but alas gothic metal band Black Veil Brides were the closers and they came out and managed to send the evening screeching to a grinding halt.

The band, particularly vocalist Andy Six, spent more time screaming and swearing at the crowd than they did actually performing.

Throughout the tour Six has been criticized for spitting on the crowd and fighting with a number of people and on Friday he continued this tradition as people began to jump up onto the stage, which anyone who has seen the massiveness of Harpos' stage is not easy.

Doing things like that can be entertaining as long as you have the talent to back it up. Guys like Marilyn Manson and Axl Rose were able to get away with it because they still put on a great musical show but Six is not in that category.

Backing vocalist Ashley Purdy actually has a great voice and was the best behaved of the bunch.

It would be great to see him start a band of his own but I would not recommend paying money to see the Black Veil Brides anytime soon!