Images: Sleeping With Sirens, Memphis May Fire, Breathe Carolina, Issues October 15, 2013 on Fremont Street (Rock the Block)

Outdoor shows carry their own kind of energy and when Sleeping With Sirens, Memphis May Fire, Breathe Carolina and Issues hit Rock the Block, you could feel that energy all the way down Fremont Street.

Issues kicked the evening off with “Hooligans.” The 6-piece outfit from Atlanta kept the energy high as they plowed through tracks from their 2012 Black Diamonds EP, including “Love Sex Riot,” “Her Monologue,” “Princeton Avenue,” and set ender “King of Amarillo.”

Breathe Carolina followed to much fanfare with hits “Hello Fascination,” “Hit and Run,” and new song “Mistakes.” Mid set featured guest vocals from BC’s tour manager Coco Wiley, on “Wooly,” and by this point, the scene looked like something straight out of a Vegas nightclub as kids jumped up and down to the beat of the strobe lights. The Colorado natives continued the electronic-rock party, getting especially big responses from “Last Night (Vegas)” and their big hit “Blackout.”

I had the pleasure of catching Memphis May Fire at this summer’s Warped Tour and they put on such a great show, I couldn’t wait to see them again. From the opening riffs of “Alive in the Lights,” frontman Matty Mullins got the crowd moving with his powerful vocals, and despite sound difficulties, the band plowed through old crowd favorites “The Victim” and “The Sinner” from 2011’s The Hollow. They got some crowd participation started on “Vices” with whhhhhoooaas filling the air. Towards the end of the set, the metalcore outfit played through “The Deceived,” and Mullins gave a short speech to the young fans about changing the world and doing great things which was the meaning behind the next song “Legacy.” They finished their set with “Prove Me Right,” leaving the crowd chanting for more.

Orlando’s  Sleeping With Sirens was met with cheers and screaming as they took to the stage, opening with fan favorites “Here We Go,” “Congrats” (featuring MMF’s Matty Mullins), “Low” and “Free Now.”  Then they slowed things down a bit with a rasta-style version of “If I’m James Dean, You’re Audrey Hepburn.” It seemed that the entire crowd was singing at the top of their lungs throughout the entire set, the main part of which ended with hit “Satellites” from their latest release Feel. After the stage lights went dark, the Vegas crowd wasn’t ready to go home and chanted for an encore, which they got in the form of “If You Can’t Hang.”

-Tylor Thuirer | https://www.flickr.com/photos/thuirermedia/