102.1 KDGE How the Edge Stole Christmas @ Verizon Theatre, Grand Prairie, TX

The weather outside was far from frightful, there were no marks of fire or snow, but the music inside the Verizon Theatre was very delightful during 102.1 KDGE's How the Edge Stole Christmas.  The annual mix bag of radio talent drew thousands to the great hall of Grand Prairie for an evening of alternative jams.  Along the same lines as their other, much larger festival, Edgefest, How the Edge Stole Christmas mixes a handful up and coming bands (who currently have a single that's receiving generous amounts of airplay) and a few veteran bands to headline the shindig.  While most in attendance were there to see Weezer, Rise Against, or Young the Giant, the openers of this year's event proved to be worthy of the bill.

To be honest, I think Bad Suns and Big Data were judged primarily on their current singles, "Cardiac Arrest" and "Dangerous", respectively.  Not uncommon when most of the crowd only knows you for those songs.  On the other hand, Bleachers had a pretty great reception throughout their raucous set.  Frontman Jack Antonoff was animated and pumped up for their 30-minute set, begging the crowd to scream and sing along.  Like Bad Suns and Big Data, the crowd responded the loudest when the band performed their hit, "I Wanna Get Better".  Walk the Moon played an acoustic set, complete with shakers and a pizza box drum kit.  Young the Giant and Rise Against provided a great one-two punch as a build up for Weezer's headlining slot.  Young the Giant have some great songs and a good live band but Rise Against pushed the volume to 11 and showed the Verizon audience they headlined this very event a few years earlier.  But alas, the best set went to Weezer.  With a catalog of feelgood songs that invoke nostalgia and singalongs, Weezer has been like a fine wine.  Only gets better with age.  Their performance wasn't flashy but with songs like "Island in the Sun", "Say It Ain't So" and "Buddy Holly", it was not hard to enjoy their hour-long set.  With another year in the books, so was another year for How the Edge Stole Christmas.  Can't wait to see what next year brings.  Pictures of the show are below:

Bad Suns
Big Data
Walk the Moon
Bleachers
Young the Giant
Weezer
enjoy.
102.1 KDGE How the Edge Stole Christmas @ Verizon Theatre, Grand Prairie, TX 102.1 KDGE How the Edge Stole Christmas @ Verizon Theatre, Grand Prairie, TX Reviewed by Scott Rowe, Editor on December 17, 2014 Rating: 5
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