Around six p.m., just as the sun is about to go down, the line starts to form outside of Space 1110.

Being first in line, I await the arrival of the Blood Brothers. The Blood Brothers along with the Mean Reds and The Chinese Stars, performed at Space 1110 on February 19 in Lubbock. 

Excitement filled the air as the doors slowly opened and people were allowed in the tiny venue. Row by row, people filled space and began to anticipate the opening bands. After about 30 minutes of filing in, the Mean Reds took their places on stage. The Mean Reds are a five- piece band out of Tucson, Arizona and they blew the audience away with their charismatic performance.

Shortly thereafter, The Chinese Stars calmed the audience with their creative beats. Playing to a highly energized audience, the Chinese Stars played a short set and were on their way.

Once the Chinese Stars had left the stage and moved all of their equipment, the audience became more anxious. They could hardly chill their nerves for they knew the Blood Brothers would soon grace them with their presence.

The Blood Brothers are a five-piece band hailing from Seattle, Washington. Members include Jordan Billie and Johnny Whitney on vocals, Morgan Henderson on keyboard and bass, Cody Votolato on guitar and Mark Gajadhar on drums.

Slowly, but surely, the Blood Brothers went on stage and calmly introduced themselves. Starting off with “Trash Flavored Trash” a song from their newest album “Crimes,” the crowd could hardly contain their excitement.

Once the lyrics started being belted out, the audience moved in a crazy wave-like motion, fists in the air and chanting along with Blilie and Whitney. Blilie and Whitney have a unique sound that mixes high-pitched screams with deep-toned howls.

The energy was incredible, as there was not a still body in the place. The Blood Brothers continued to play amazing songs, one after the other. Their set list for the night included songs old and new. The Blood Brothers played songs from “This Adultery is Ripe,” “Burn Piano Island, Burn,” ”Crimes,” and “March on Electric Children.”

The night continued to become more dream-like, as the Blood Brothers played ” My First Kiss at the Public Execution,” “Teen Heat,” “Guitarmy,” “Jennifer,” and “Rats and Rats and Rats for Candy.” During the performance the Blood Brothers played 14 amazing songs.

The Blood Brothers saved the best songs for last including “Cecilia and the Silhouette Saloon” and “Love Rhymes with Hideous Car Wreck.” Once the Blood Brothers started playing “Cecilia,” the crowd went wild.

Clapping along with Whitney and dancing to the beats of Morgan Henderson’s keyboarding, I could not help but dance along. I was amazed at the crowd being able to decipher the Blood Brother’s lyrics, since they move so quickly through each song. Once the song started and Jordan and Johnny were screaming, the crowd joined in screaming each line with all the energy they had left in them.

As the song progressed, Votolato (also of Waxwing) impressed the entire venue with his excellent guitar playing and his talented maneuvers around the small wooden stage. Gajadhar complimented each scream and strum of the guitar with his extremely talented drumming. Not only was he on the beat, each time he added in a few extra sounds that made the show worth while.

The Blood Brothers followed “Cecilia” with “Jennifer,” a song from their first release. The crowd didn’t know the words but the energy never left. Blilie then serenaded an electric snowman, and with that the crowd fell in love with the Blood Brothers’ crazy antics.

After many great songs and being pressed against the amp the entire time, I still had the energy left for a few more songs. The Blood Brothers ended their planned set with “Love Rhymes with Hideous Car Wreck.” 

Once Whitney announced the title of the song, the crowd screamed and hollered like 12-year-old school girls. The song began, and everyone in the audience knew the exact time to clap their hands and sing along. It’s not often you go to a show and have every single person in the audience sing along to every word of the last song.

Once the chorus came along, all you could here was everyone in the entire venue screaming “Love, love, love.” The audience was so incredibly into the music that no one noticed the fact that everyone was moving in a seamless motion. The entire crowd was moving together in a wave-like motion, pushing forward to hopefully get that chance to be oh-so-close to the Blood Brothers. The crowd looked like a room full of vigorously moving hands, each one simultaneously moving to the beat of the song.

After finishing the song, the Blood Brothers exited the stage for a much-needed break. The crowd, on the other hand, was still very much energized and began chanting “One more song.” After about two minutes the Blood Brothers came back on stage.

The audience screamed out song titles as if the louder they were the better chance they had of getting to hear the song they wanted. I was lucky enough to be in the front row, and I had about five people behind me chanting “The Salesman, Denver Max,” (and interesting track off of “Burn Piano Island, Burn”). After a few minutes of deliberating the Blood Brothers agreed to play “Denver Max.”

Once  Votolato began to play, hands immediately went into the air and the crowd screamed along with Whitney. Once the song hit its highest and loudest point the crowd squeezed together and became one large pile of Blood Brothers fans. Screaming every word, I couldn’t help but realize that I was actually seeing the Blood Brothers in Lubbock of all places.

As “Denver Max,” reached its last few lyrics “By the time we hit Mexico you'll know little girl know little girl that Denver Max will always be the only one. By the time we hit the ocean we’ll jump little girl, jump little girl down to find the undersea sun,”-the crowed bathed in the intensity of the moment. Not only had the Blood Brothers blown the audience away, they left them in complete awe.

After wiping the sweat from my eyes, I came to the realization that the night had come to an end. I was in complete shock because of what I had just seen. I was surprised by the Means Reds, calmed by The Chinese Stars, and left amazed by The Blood Brothers.

The Blood Brothers truly put on an amazing show and managed to work with the tiny space that Space 1110 call a stage. This was my second time to see The Blood Brothers, and I have to say that the second time does the trick. There was such an intense energy bursting from the audience, it is hard to describe.

I am sure that night was an incredible dream and will

be forever remembered by not only myself but the other

300 people crammed into that small venue.