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<p>SCRANTON &#8212; The Menzingers vocalist/guitarist Tom May described the NEPA Holiday Show as a party, a chance for friends to get together and play music with each other while donating proceeds from ticket sales to local youth arts and music programs. This year&#8217;s holiday show was held Dec. 19 at the Scranton Cultural Center and marks the first time the venue has hosted the event during its five-year run.</p><p>May expressed gratitude for the cultural center&#8217;s level of participation in the planning of the show; the venue&#8217;s efforts extended into the hospitality it showed to patrons the night of the event. Food and drinks were readily available in the back of the room, event staff was courteous and plentiful and the stage was wide, allowing concert-goers room to get close to the action.</p><p>Kiley Lotz&#8217;s band Petal kicked things off shortly after doors opened at 5 p.m., performing songs from the October release &#8220;Shame&#8221; as well as 2013&#8217;s &#8220;Scout&#8221; EP. Lotz&#8217;s powerful voice reverberated through the room during Petal&#8217;s set and, as a local treat, she was joined on stage by Tigers Jaw&#8217;s Brianna Collins and Ben Walsh, who also served as studio musicians during the recording of &#8220;Shame.&#8221;</p><p>Four-piece band Three Man Cannon took the stage after Petal and was an unexpected delight. The band&#8217;s sound falls somewhere between The Strokes and Sunny Day Real Estate with a little grunge and dream pop thrown in for good measure; if that sounds confusing and delightful, a visit to their BandCamp page will put things in perspective. Each member of the band took on vocal duties at different points of the set, lending a variety to the performance beyond instrumentation. Three Man Cannon left me pleasantly surprised and eager for its next Northeastern Pennsylvania performance.</p><p>The Sw!ms took the stage next, complete with laryngitis-afflicted vocalist Brian Langan. The Sw!ms&#8217; vocalist fought through the band&#8217;s setlist and made up for any shortcomings his condition may have caused by radiating a perpetual party vibe. With sword in hand, frills on jacket and Christmas tree costume on back-up vocalist, The Sw!ms prompted the first dance party of the night which didn&#8217;t subside until the last note of the final song. Show patrons claimed to be fans of The Sw!ms for the better part of a decade, and with its second NEPA Holiday Show reunion in as many years, it isn&#8217;t a stretch to assume their presence would be welcome again next year.</p><p>Four-piece punk band Captain We&#8217;re Sinking started the night&#8217;s sing-alongs with an energetic 11-song set that included &#8220;Lake,&#8221; &#8220;Here&#8217;s to Forever&#8221; and &#8220;A Bitter Divorce.&#8221; Scranton Cultural Center&#8217;s event staff was put to work as the band&#8217;s performance was met with enthusiasm by a crowd that finally took its collective coat off to stay awhile. Crowd surfers, moshers and fist pumpers gave the band a hearty homecoming greeting while news of a new, half-finished Captain We&#8217;re Sinking album got just as loud a response as any of the band&#8217;s songs.</p><p>Tigers Jaw took what Captain We&#8217;re Sinking started and ran with it. Culling songs from catalogs, which includes five full-lengths and numerous splits, the band put every aspect of its sound on display with arrangements focusing on keyboard hooks and driving guitar that knows when to take a backseat to strong lyrical content. The group rounded out its set with &#8220;The Sun,&#8221; the first song it compiled as a band.</p><p>The Menzingers play the kind of gritty, emotional punk rock reminiscent of the genre&#8217;s contributions from the Midwest butm in a waym entirely &#8220;Scranton&#8221; in execution. The band&#8217;s early material, which there wasn&#8217;t much of in its setlist (&#8220;Sunday Morning&#8221; and &#8220;Rivalries&#8221; made the cut, along with a cover of The Bouncing Souls&#8217; &#8220;Kate is Great&#8221;) capture the kind of cynical optimism that comes with being proud of the way things are while wishing they were better &#8212; in your town, in your interactions with others and inside yourself.</p><p>The bulk of the band&#8217;s song selections came from its two latest albums, &#8220;On The Impossible Past&#8221; and &#8220;Rented World.&#8221; The Menzingers&#8217; sound has always been unique, but these LPs see the Scranton band cementing its place in the music world while romanticizing even the simplest moments of life and love in East Coast living. We all feel our latest failure spells out the end of our world; The Menzingers aren&#8217;t afraid to share its apocalypses, and if its doesn&#8217;t share with you over a beer, let it share with you from a stage. Either way, you&#8217;ll walk out with the same feeling.</p><p>The Fifth Annual NEPA Holiday Show featured six local bands and, as Lotz put it, was a &#8220;banger.&#8221; Old favorites joined forces with pleasant surprises to raise money for charity and give 2015 a proper sendoff alongside a hometown crowd. Judging by the size of that crowd and its reactions when leaving the venue, the bands achieved their goal.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Tigers Jaw lead guitarist/vocalist Ben Walsh performs at the Fifth Annual NEPA Holiday Show at Scranton Cultural Center. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_Menzingers4-1-3.jpg</photo0><caption0>Tigers Jaw lead guitarist/vocalist Ben Walsh performs at the Fifth Annual NEPA Holiday Show at Scranton Cultural Center. </caption0><photoCredit0>Sean McKeag | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_Menzingers7-1-3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Menzingers guitarist/vocalist Tom May performs at the Fifth Annual NEPA Holiday Show at Scranton Cultural Center. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/web1_Menzingers7-1-3.jpg</photo1><caption1>Menzingers guitarist/vocalist Tom May performs at the Fifth Annual NEPA Holiday Show at Scranton Cultural Center. </caption1><photoCredit1>Sean McKeag | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Local acts The Menzingers, Tigers Jaw headline charitable event</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Gene Axton</p><p>gaxton@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Gene Axton at 570-991-6121 or on Twitter @TLArts</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Review: Annual NEPA Holiday Show at Scranton Cultural Center a homecoming party for The Menzingers, Tigers Jaw