Live Review: Nine Sons Of Dan, Awaken I Am, Burning Brooklyn, We Were Giants

For a mid-week show on a cold winter's night, The Zoo is surprisingly busy, even as the support bands work through their sets. First off the rank is local four-piece We Were Giants. The local pop punkers are just getting their footing in the local scene, and consequently don't have enough material to be onstage for too long, but the songs they do play sound like very faithful, enjoyable interpretations of the pop punk genre. Their cuts are bouncy and bursting with a kind of adolescent energy that will probably remind you of the American Pie soundtracks or bands like Four Year Strong and New Found Glory.

Next up pop rockers Burning Brooklyn have their time in front of the appreciative crowd hanging close to The Zoo's stage. With a cover of Kisschasy's This Bed and an affable onstage presence, Burning Brooklyn easily win over these punters. Though it would be hard for them not to, the band's penchant for big choruses is downright contagious during numbers like Taking It All, where Alex Dedecius and Rick Collins' shared vocals soar over the din of guitars and crash of drums.

With an impressive history of shows helping them to hone their craft, Awaken I Am's music really shines when the band take to the stage. The dynamism of their Resonance EP really comes across, the band adeptly blending some of the slower, poppier moments with pulsating synth lines and ballsy rock-played-with-a-hardcore-sensibility, and the crowd really responds to these elements being brought together on numbers like Consider The Thought.

Although it's not nearly as bad as a quintet calling themselves 10,000 Maniacs, it still feels like something of a swindle when the five, count 'em five, members of Nine Sons Of Dan stride onto The Zoo's stage. It's hard to stay upset at this ruse though; in fact as the fellas work through the upbeat cuts off their latest EP The New Kids it's hard to be upset about anything, each new song just sounds so damned optimistic.

Taking cues from everything from power pop, emo and the modern day arena rock of bands like the Foo Fighters, Nine Sons Of Dan sound like they come from a land of perpetual sunshine. Even tonight, a brisk July evening, the temperature can't diminish the infectiousness of their summery melodies, and the crowd hangs close by the stage to move around to each new number until Nine Sons of Dan's set draws to an end.

As the crowd files out of The Zoo, they are all smiles, as though Nine Sons Of Dan's performance has exorcised the winter blues from the room.