Tuesday night I got to see a really rocking Wizard Rock show. Joined by katilara, jedimara77, and barbed_whispers, I rocked out to Justin Finch-Fletchley and the Sugar Quills, The Whomping Willows, Draco and the Malfoys, and my favorite band, The Remus Lupins.

Justin Finch-Fletchley & The Sugar Quills
I had only heard one JFF song before Tuesday (that would be Honeydukes), and after seeing him preform live, I'm a convert. Justin (Michaelman, the man behind JFF&TSQ) was joined by Matt Maggiacomo (The Whomping Willows) on drums and Brian Ross (Draco and the Malfoys) on bass.


Left to right: Brian, Justin, Matt

Because I didn't really know Justin Finch-Fletchley before, I didn't pay much attention to the first song, but the hook from Dumbledore Is Gay (And That's Okay), uh, hooked me. To the best of my memorable abilities, here's the set list.

Set List
Whompy Stole My Pillow
Dumbledore Is Gay (And That's Okay) - Orlando Performance on YouTube
Umbridge is Dumbridge
Krum
Honeydukes

And since it's my favorite song from JFF right now, I give you the Orlando performance of Krum.

On a side note: See that group of girls dancing around in the middle of the song? They are total Wrock groupies. They were almost obnoxious the entire time with their extreme devotion, but there was something about them (possibly that they were attending a wrock concert) that made me not hate them.

After the show I went to buy one of Justin's CDs and asked him, "If you could only buy one of your CDs, which one would you buy?" He stared at me for a minute, totally unable to answer that question, and then I said, "How about which one is hardest to get outside of this show?" He pointed me to his Wizard Rock EP of the Month (2008) Hufflepizza, and then I also picked up his first, self-titled album.

The Whomping Willows
I saw Matt Maggiacomo (aka Whompy) last year and his set was very different because then he played half of his songs acoustically. This time his whole set included Justin on bass and Whompy Jr. (wearing Harry's invisibility cloak) on drums. (KL commented, "Whompy Jr. looks rather like a MacBook.")


Left to right: Justin, Bonus!Blur!Alex, Whompy Jr., Matt

Matt seemed ruffled during the first couple songs because they were having a little problem with the sound, but he finally got into it and wrocked the library as he normally does. (I kind of love Matt a lot, if you didn't know.)

Set List
I Believe in Nargles
Ginny is a Punk Rocker
House of Awesome Theme Song
Wizard Rock Heartthrob
I Found a Loophole
In Which Draco and Harry Secretly Make Out

Matt is pretty damn funny (which you can tell from his songs), and had two digressions in the middle of his songs. Towards the end of I Found a Loophole, which is all about the Willow's love for Hermione, Matt confessed that it was okay that Hermione turned him down "because I've moved on . . . to Luna." And he then sang the rest of the song as his love for Luna. ♥

He also changed one of the choruses to In Which Draco and Harry Secretly Make Out to "Dumbledore and Gandalf sitting in a tree. . . ." *snickers* Seriously, I love Matt.

I already had all of Matt's albums (that he brought with him) so I didn't buy anything from him, but I did profess my undying love before the show.

Draco and the Malfoys
SURPRISE HIT OF THE NIGHT! I had no idea Draco and the Malfoys rock so hard! Brian Ross (Draco Malfoy in his 19th year) and Bradley Mehlenbacher (Draco Malfoy in his 15th year) threw themselves all over the stage and delivered a truly awesome performance. They were so very, very enjoyable.

We took a lot of very blurry pictures of them before I suggested that we click over to Action!Mode!


Left to right: Bradley and Brian

This was their first show in Florida, so they took a few requests throughout their set. By the time I'd thought, "Oh, I love Voldemort is Awesome," people were shouting them down with requests, so I didn't get to request that one. Even so, the requested songs pretty much rocked.

In addition to their old stuff, they played a few things off their brand-spanking new album Slytherin World. They had copies with them that are only available on this summer tour (which include bonus tracks!), so you better believe I snapped that up.

Set List
99 Death Eaters
Tom Felton's Kinda Hot
Slytherin Pride
Potions Yesterday
Dobby
Slytherin World (NEW!)
(I I I wanna go to) Durmstrang (NEW!)
My Day Is Rich – Orlando Performance on YouTube

Their energy was awesome the moment they stepped on stage and thus I give you evidence of that energy. (I only wish this video was closer so you could feel the full impact of Brain Ross's Crazy Eyes.)

This summer the HP Alliance is promoting Wizard Rock the Vote and the bands are signing up wrockers to register to vote. Brian pimped this in the middle of their set, noting that Wizard Rock the Vote is not affiliated with any political party or endorsing any candidate. He then went on to say:

Draco and the Malfoys are proud to support Barack Obama. . . . Because he's an elitist.

*snickers* Seriously. My love for them. HUGE.

I picked up the new album and The Wizard Rock EP of the Month (2007) Family. And after listening to them both, I (I I) wanna go to Durmstrang.


Em and Brian wrock together.
(Also, I'm wearing my new Harry and the Potters shirt!)

I made sure to emphatically tell Brian to come back through Orlando some time.

The Remus Lupins
Can I tell you how much I love Alex Carpenter? He's not bad to look at, but he's also pretty handy with a guitar and has a lot of big words shoved in his head. You all know how I like boys with big words shoved in their heads. ♥

For this performance Alex and bassist Tyler Nicholas were joined by Bradley (Draco and the Malfoys). jedimara77 commented to me, "Wasn't he just in Slytherin?"


Left to right: Tyler, Bradley, and Alex

They jumped right into playing—Alex forgot to introduce them until about 4 songs in—and just rocked through their set list. I suppose Alex always starts Snape with the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air rap, but damn if that's not enjoyable every time.

The Remus Lupins also have a new album out—Nevermind the Furthermore—so they played a couple songs off that. Alex prefaced APWBD with a comment that he was going to sing a song about his favorite gay wizard and both barbed_whispers and I were like "SIRIUS!" because we're slasher nerds. ♥


Alex giving his all in the middle of Seven Potters.

Alex broke a string towards the end of Teenage Werewolf (and still rocked it out), and while others rushed to fix that, Alex grabbed his acoustic guitar and had us gather around for "story time."


Story time!

He started with Remember Cedric and then made me flip my lid by preforming Alone on Valentine's Day. Which they normally preform electric. And I love that song. askldhjg. I recorded it starting from almost the beginning of the second verse.

They invited up "everyone on tour with them" for the final song (Looking for Trouble) and I love it when it feels like you're watching a family on stage.


Matt and Justin rock the ba da da das with Alex.

Set List
The Ballad of Neville and Luna – Orlando Performance on YouTube
Snape – Orlando Performance on YouTube
Seven Potters (NEW!) – Orlando Performance on YouTube
APWBD (NEW!)
Teenage Werewolf
Remember Cedric – Orlando Performance on YouTube
Alone on Valentine's Day – (Full) Orlando Performance on YouTube
Loosen Your Tie
Looking for Trouble

And one more embedded performance, this time for Teenage Werewolf.

So, with all those YouTube options, do you feel like you were there? ;)

I got to have some bonus fun before the show because scifigirl had called me the day before from Atlanta, where she was at their Monday show. I'd told her to tell Alex that I was looking forward to seeing him the next day and told her the story of meeting him last year so that maybe she could identify me as someone other than a crazy girl. He remembered me (!—though who really forgets a woman who confesses she's been to 2 concerts in her life, his and Blondie?) so when I approached him on Tuesday, he already knew my name.

I had a short chat with Alex, telling him that I was now up to 4 concerts; he joked he was in the lead since I'd seen him twice. We also had the following exchange.

Em: I'm really excited because today is my Birthday Eve.
Alex: Oh? Happy Almost Birthday!
Em: Thanks! You're my present!
Alex: Aww. *BIG HUGS*
♥

I swear I didn't swoon.

After the show I had him sign my CD (of course I bought Nevermind the Furthermore) and I told Alex very proudly, "I danced." KL piped up that they were taking me to a hardcore show next month (speaking of Frank Iero's Leathermouth) and Alex responded, "Way to work her up easy." I am biting my tongue about anything related to Alex working me up.

It was a very very awesome wrock show and I'm really fighting very hard to remind myself that even though I will be 3 hours from Birmingham next Saturday, I should not leave my cousin's wedding to go to a wrock concert.

I've got more pictures up here and if anyone finds videos of songs from this performance that I don't have linked, please comment with links! I linked to every performance I could find.

I love wrock!