It’s hard to review a show of this magnitude because of it’s 4 stages and amazing lineup. While respect is due to all the bands who played this weekend, I decided to watch the big names and/or the bands who have impressed me before…

Okay, this is pretty tough for me to do, but I am going to try and be as hard on these bands as possible, and I start with Brand New. Hmm, these guys didn’t play long enough? That’s about the most negative thing I can say about these guys, because anyone who was at this show will testify that they absolutely blew the roof of the main stage. This, mind you, was at a show where maybe half the kids knew who they were at its onset. While the rest of the weekend was not a bust by a long shot, nothing was to come close to topping Brand New’s honest heart-fueled performance.

The Movielife is the next victim. On Friday, they were a “”surprise guest”" playing on the Drive Thru Stage. Acoustically, the sound was better in this room, but the auditorium atmosphere killed the usual energy of a Movielife set. Credit is given to frontman Vinnie “”Mink-Yatts”" Caruana’s great stage presence and to the rest of the band for playing a very tight foot-tapping set, which really did a great job keeping the almost bound audience into the music. Sunday’s set was in the big room for the Long Island export. The bad acoustics of this room could not prevent The Movielife from playing a really fun set. The only negative that I can really think of for The Movielife is probably just song selection, but their “”Get Out of Jail Free”" card is that Alex just recently left the band, so Dan Navetta of Stopwatch is filling in, and doing a great job at it I might add (my advice for Dan is to learn “”Pinky Swear”" and the crowd will adopt you). Great job by one of the best pop-punk bands around today.

Glassjaw was another highlight. Vocalist Daryl Palumbo was as bitter, sour, and nasty as I’ve seen him on stage in quite some time. What does that mean? It means Glassjaw was at the top of their game. From the classics “”Piano”" and “”Siberian Kiss”" to their newest song entitled “”Tip Your Bartender,”" Daryl drained the soul of everyone in the room. It’s hard to watch anyone after Glassjaw. So my negative comment for this band is…they didn’t headline and close the show? Yeah, I guess that is it.

Other highlights…

Further Seems Forever is actually alive and well without Chris Carabba, so don’t call them Dashboard’s old band anymore. Lords of Semen (Midtown Gone 80′s), could be a great G&R cover band, because “”Sweet Child of Mine”" was pretty dead on. Luckily anyone who missed Midtown on Saturday, got to see them play a few of their songs under the Lords of Semen moniker (pick up their new album, it’s a great listen). Thrice, Reach the Sky, Bouncing Souls and The Descendants all played solid shows. Alkaline Trio’s performance can be summed up as an amazing band, who played a good set, that sounded “”okay-to-good.”" Unfortunately, the thick sound of the 3 piece was bouncing off the walls creating a bad echo, due to bad…that’s right, acoustics. Their new drummer Derek Grant, formerly of The Suicide Machines, is a great drummer, when you see Alkaline Trio live, keep your eye on him. I have to say there were no bad performances by the bands I saw. Some were good, more were great, and a few were amazing, but the undisputed champions of this year: Brand New.

Finally, I end with Face to Face. Face to Face showed why they are one of the best punk rock bands ever with a lively and amusing set with lots of crowd participation. Playing mostly old stuff, they got a great reaction from the Jersey crowd. Their stage presence was great and left everyone feeling like the $30 ticket and $30 in gas and tolls was worth it, and that’s really the point, isn’t it?