Review by Jake Masters & Karen Anderson, photos by Elise Dawson
We arrived at
the Thunderdome at about 7:00 pm while Syn was on stage. Soon
after we
realized that we should have arrived even later. The music wasn’t
wholly bad, but the singer needs some vocal lessons. We also thought it
cruel that Syn asked the audience if they were ready for 51 PEG, which
produced many energetic and delighted screams of YEAH!, just to make us
listen to seven more of their songs. Finally it was time for
51 Peg. There were many screams and everyone moved down to the floor in
front of the stage. 51 PEG played the songs from their new album Esc/Ctrl as well as two other songs, “Rest of Us” & “Hacksaw
Grin.” These two additional songs were written, but didn’t
make it onto this latest album. 51 PEG, animated as always, gave the audience
an intensifying performance. Lead singer Jeff Sargent was all over the
place, standing up on the drum platform, coming to the end of the stage,
even on the floor at times. Jaime Nish was also dancing away at the keyboard
bringing extra energy to the show. The band joked around in between some
songs creating a warm atmosphere the audience loved.
Since this was the band’s first time playing at the Thunderdome,
they experienced a few technical difficulties with a keyboard, but they
were pretty much smoothed out during the first song. They made light of
the situation by joking around and as Jeff said, “If anyone wants
to buy Jaime a new keyboard…” The band also stuck around afterward
to talk to the fans and sign autographs. The only thing that disappointed
us was the fact that 51 PEG didn’t play more songs. We can’t
wait to see them again and if you are twenty-one or over you can see them
at the Kaos Grill on June 24th.