If the names Mest and Hawthorne Heights are unfamiliar to you, you probably weren’t wearing skinny jeans back in 2005. One were a group of snotty kids from the late 90’s who specialised in pissing off punk purists, while the other were an outfit comprised of nasally, effete emo kids who scored a big hit with a song containing the line “cut my wrist and black my eyes.” (cue the booing right about now). Needless to say, the sight of these two teaming up together for a joint tour was unprecedented to say the least, and entering The Brightside last Friday I was quite unsure of what to expect.

Mest were onstage first and to say their set was strange would be an understatement. Lead singer Tony Lovato’s arms were absolutely covered in tattoos, and his hair was dyed this sickly shade of cyan. The sound kept cutting out three-quarters of the way through their set and the microphones had a habit of popping and hissing. At one point lead guitarist Jeremiah Rangel asked one of the girls in the crowd if she could get up onstage and get a kiss from him, claiming he, “Always wanted to kiss an Australian girl,” which made for some awkward looks all around. Despite these minor disturbances, their set was full of good natured fun and some anthemic singalongs. They ended their set with fan-favourite Cadillac, with its sickly sweet chorus and chugging chorus, which got the crowd of early 20-somethings jumping around with like a bunch of teenagers on Red Bull.

Following on from Mest, Hawthorne Heights took the stage and the atmosphere in the room changed significantly. While the band members were all in relatively good spirits, the music switched from happy-go-lucky pop punk to the dreary, moping strains of emo. The vast majority of Hawthorne Heights setlist was culled from their first two albums (i.e. the bands “glory days”, so to say), and as such their was a distinctly juvenile tone to their performance. Nevertheless, the crowd at The Brightside was eagerly singing along to anthems such as Niki FM and Saying Sorry with all the energy of angst adolescents in heat (despite this being an 18+ event). Hawthorne Heights stage presence betrayed the nature of their music, as lead singer JT Woodruff seemed quite happy to be performing at The Brightside despite the overly depressing nature of his bands music. He even lent his guitar to one of the members of Mest when it broke down during one of their songs. Finishing off their set with the decidedly angst-ridden Ohio Is For Lovers may have drawn scorn from anyone over the age of 30 in the venue, but for the crowd at The Brightside, Hawthorne Heights performance was akin to a religious experience as opposed to just another shit gig on a Friday night.

Truth be told, I was pleasantly surprised by both band’s performances. I was expecting to see to washed up has-beens playing to a crowd of 20-somethings eager to recapture the nostalgia of their teenage years, but what I got were two bands who soldiered on through various onstage mishaps to give the crowd one hell of a night. Mest and Hawthorne Heights were both in good form (disregarding some onstage hiccups), and I had a pretty good time. Their days of gracing MTV might be long behind them, but they still know how to put on a good show for the kids, and a good time was definitely had by all.

- Patrick Connors