photos and recap by Richard Schmid
This year Squirrel Hill celebrated it’s Rock the Block Festival on October 15, 2016. In addition to having numerous vendors, an outdoor beer tent, and immunization and wellness clinics, Rock the Block featured the efforts of 4 local Pittsburgh bands; Relics, Eastend Mile, Emerson Jay, and Nevada Color to top off the night.
The night started off with local Blues band Relic at 6pm. This group of friends managed to get people and children dancing in the streets as they warmed up the crowd for the first listed act, Eastend Mile.
Despite minor technical difficulties marring their sound test, Eastend Mile performed some solid jazz tunes, including two covers mixed into the rest of their work; Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky” and Michael Jackson’s “Smooth Criminal”.
Continuing what would be a night full of minor problems, Emerson Jay took the stage next. After sorting out problems with his synthesizer, a direct plug into an electrical outlet and a short prayer got the show going. Emerson’s show pumped the crowd up and pulled everyone closer to the stage as a good opener for the final group of the night, Nevada Color.
Nevada Color’s Quinn Wirth put on an outstanding show, repeatedly hopping off the stage to sing with the front row crowd. Quinn’s night was also marred by a minor difficulty, as his brand-new tambourine was somehow smashed into pieces while sitting on stage. Despite this, Nevada Color had the crowd dancing all night, especially with a cover of Billy Idol’s “Dancing With Myself”. It was a stellar performance, and personally I’m looking forward to catching the band again next time they play.
Rock the Block this year was a fantastic experience, with solid musical performances by everyone involved. Look for each of these bands in upcoming shows in the Pittsburgh area.
Nevada Color
Emerson Jay
Eastend Mile
Relics
