This kind of tour quality does not happen nearly often enough. Four thoroughly solid and competent bands set a small club that held maybe 350 people at most into absolute chaos. Although A New Found Glory could be considered the lightweight of the tour, they whipped the crowd into a frenzy with their high octane brand of popcore. Very fast, melodic skate rock music melded with soothing emoish high pitched vocals and choruses made for singing along. After hearing NFG’s catchiest song, “”hit or mess,”" it was nearly impossible not to humm along. Besides being highly talented at what they do, A New Found Glory was very adept at breaking the barriers of being the opening act, sending those “”mosh”" friendly kids in kickboxing rampages and explosive bursts of energy of the pit. Not often does one catch what is essentially a harder pop-punk band set the pit afire. Nice job boys!

Setting of the next round of pit pyrotechnics was the emocore stylings of Grade. While now a featured item of Victory Records, Grade’s fanbase has increased exponentially, and will probably grow even more as their video for “”A year in the past, forever in the future,”" prepares to conquer MTV’s airwaves. Grade was explicity tight, and lead vocalist Kyle has an aire to him on stage that makes it almost impossible to not be capitivated and drawn in to his mannerism and amazing growls. I can’t think of a better emocore singer who can match Kyle’s range in singing, and his penchant for screaming, and not losing a word in the process. Grade was an audio powerhouse, and hopefully made fans out those who saw them for the first time. If you haven’t picked up “”Under the Radar,”" their latest offering, I recommend it big time. It isn’t nearly as metal as their first two releases, but the better production certainly makes the band sound fuller.

After two intense bands, Ensign took the stage, and although I’m a big fan of them, I just felt that their set was just one giant blur. Ensign play a style of hardcore that seems to find itself next to set mates, SNAPCASE, and SICK OF IT ALL, just a heck of alot faster. Starting off the set with “”Pale Horse,”" Fletcher’s exploded into one giant dance floor, but unfortunately, most of the pit folk got tired pretty quick and were tame throughout the rest of Ensign. What makes Ensign stand out from most other hardcore bands is the amount sincerity and honesty within their lyrics, although Tim needs to work on sounding just a bit more clear with the microphone. After playing songs mostly off their past two albums, Ensign closed off their set with a terror, playing “”Never Give In,”" which became one of the fiercest sing alongs i’ve ever seen. If you get the chance to see these guys, don’t pass on it.

Snapcase undoubtedly could be the most popular band in hardcore. Combining monster grooves with thunderous drums, Snapcase had the room bouncing up and down, thumpin’ along to deafining beats and screams. The entire main room in Fletchers was once again, a giant dance floor. By this time in the show, my ears had just about had it, Darryl’s piercing screams made virtually painful to sit through, yet a smile couldn’t escape my face. This was my first time seeing Snapcase live, and it was nothing short of atomic. Playing a set most of new material off of “”Designs in Automotion,”" and the classics off of “”Progression through Unlearning,”" each song seemed like a fan favorite. Simply put, no other band plays that start/stop heavy hardcore as well with such skill and such thickness. Look for this band on the entire Warped Tour this summer .