On a chilly Saturday evening in Columbus, the fans packed in to the A&R Music Bar for a four-band bill for the release of Heavy Things new album “Goner” (InVogue Records).

Although the bill was disparate in the band’s individual sounds, they came together out of friendship for one another and to help Will Deely and Heavy Things celebrate the release of their new album.

We Are The Movies (Credit: Jacob Thompson / Music in Motion Columbus)

We Are The Movies opened the show with a high-energy, seven-song set that almost was over before it started. Dan McMillan (guitar) stumbled as he was taking the stage and dislocated his knee. Being the Rawk-n-Roll trooper that he is, he finished the set with his bandmates.

The standout for these pop-punk rockers is their tight sound and the amazing timing and interplay of vocals between Tim Waters (vocals/guitar) and Mike O’Leary (guitar/vocals). They got the crowd totally into the spirit of the evening with their get-up-and-dance attitude.

After a quick changeover, Former took to the stage. Although they were hampered

Former (Credit: Jacob Thompson / Music in Motion Columbus)

by some bad feedback issues, they played a hard and heavy set, opening with a new song, Lost Control. Full of hard-edged riffs and vocal agony, their music got the crowd’s blood boiling. With adrenaline pounding riffs powering their sound, they could easily breakout to a larger audience soon.

Their six-song set came to an end with the heavy, guitar-driven Bloody Hands. We enjoyed a solid show from these “dirt-noise” rockers.

Travis Mollohan of No Dice (Credit: Jacob thompson / Music in Motion Columbus)

Melodic pop-punkers No Dice were next, with Travis Mollohan putting all his emotion into the vocals. Lady is a Tra(m)p was a solid opener for them, the staccato beat getting the crowd involved early and often.

They closed their six-song set with the upbeat Thanks Jake, much to everyone’s delight. Melodic and emotional, but with a great tempo, they did themselves proud. As they tour more, expect them to make a splash nationally.

The main event of the evening was the strong performance of emo-rockers Heavy Things.

Willy Deely’s vocals are full of emotion and an understated angst that came across with the melodies throughout their seven-song show. Opening with Sold from their new album “Goner”, the sweet guitar/vocal mix capped a wonderful evening of very good performances.

Heavy Things (Credit: Jacob Thompson / Music in Motion Columbus)

They closed their set with Badge of Honor, before being enticed back on to the stage for an encore. They left the crowd in good spirits with a nice cover of The Wallflowers “One Headlight.”

The band captures the emotional angst of today’s youth in a nuanced way, making their point with the immediacy of the live performance. We wouldn’t be surprised if this is just the first step to a national following for Heavy Things.

 Setlist – We Are The Movies

1. Faultlines
2. Leaving Me Incomplete
3. The Best Revenge is Living Well
4. Happy Ex-Mas (War is Over)
5. Temporary
6. Dreaming Big
7. Fuck You, Orange Dumpster Fire

Setlist – Former

1. Lost Control (new song)
2. Dangers of Growing Up
3. Inside Out
4. Burn in Hell
5. Something More
6. Bloody Hands

Setlist – No Dice

1. The Lady is a Tra(m)p
2. Eulogy
3. When You Were Young (The Killers cover)
4. Monochrome
5. Likewise
6. Thanks Jake

Setlist – Heavy Things

1. Sold
2. Sleep Sound
3. Goner
4. Salt
5. Car
6. Badge of Honor
7. Encore – One Headlight (The Wallflowers cover)

Heavy Things – Sold