SIDELINE2K20 - Ready to Play (09.23.2020)

Midweek gigs used to be my go-to for discovering new bands or prods so I’m happy that this came along. Sideline2k20 is an event hosted by the new prod Sideline that was billed as a show that features local artists of multiple genres. This event’s theme focused on hip hop and pop punk. I was pleased by the host who delivered intros and spiels very well - no fuss, straight to the point, and sounded like a professional radio host. A benefit of having succinct spiels is that the artists were given space to show more of their character. Speaking of artists:

V fade kicked off the show smooth rap to start the event. Mindless Pop was next with their energetic pop punk but their set felt really short. Just a Fad played their soft rock/jazz for that mellow mid-gig break but I felt that the set was a song too long. Red-Handed Kid just performed an acoustic set but it was refreshing to hear pop punk going acoustic. Yung Jet Li was next and it was the first time I’ve seen someone use autotune and not as performance flourish. Last to perform was Underclass with their nostalgic pop punk featuring great sound throughout the set.

Overall, it was a good first showing with a varied line-up of pop punk/emo and hip hop. One issue for me was that they didn’t play the stream on the event page itself. I had to go to their own page to check if the stream started. I missed the start but thank god for the replay-ability of online gigs. Another was that the number of songs per act was not consistent. Some played more songs than others but that could have been a coordination issue with the bands’ members. It was a good start and I’m hopeful for stronger gigs in the future.