The Epitaph Tour 2007 Hits Downtown Orlando's The Social

The Epitaph Tour 2007 consists of The Higher, Escape the Fate, I Am Ghost and The Matches, and when the all-ages early show rolled through Downtown Orland's The Social, there was a line around the corner a good 25 yards or so before the doors even opened. The label has managed to thrust 4 amazing bands into a journey that's just starting its second week and already is causing a frenzy of fans to leave numerous positive comments on each band's myspace pages.

Most of The Higher's fans were in the front of that long line around the corner knowing that they'd be the first band of the night; so as soon as they took the stage, many in the audience were singing right along. It created a very low key, yet blissful vibe. Then Escape the Fate,(with much love and respect for what The Higher did in their set) took over the stage with dueling guitars, and totally annihilated any leftover glee into a brazen, balls to the wall display of pure metal infused post-punk-hardcore complete with a sweltry mosh pit. (picture right)

Despite a nasty bug that had forced I Am Ghost's Tim (guitar) to visit the Emergency room via Taxi upon arriving in Orlando, he made it back in time to perform with the band and they followed up with an even more polished set than the last time we saw them at Back Booth in Orlando four months ago. The long awaited set from headliners The Matches (sounding like where The Knack tried to go with their music but never went) was a high energy performance where a fan named Andrew was invited on stage to propose to his girlfriend Kara, and everyone cheered.

We had a few minutes to catch up with Steve, Ryan and Brian from I Am Ghost after the show when Omar, Max and Robert from Escape the Fate stopped by to reaffirm that there's a definite bond between the line-up of bands on this tour. Today's young, internet savvy music fan looks to Epitaph as a leader in finding new bands that are the complete package (regardless of what pigeonhole you think you can fit their music into) and each band at this show, on this tour, delivered just that.

MVWire.com
Alicia Lyman