I <3 the '90s Last Thursday night was quite the grunge rock show at the Crofoot, with those cool bands from the '90s that everyone loves – the Toadies and Helmet. Both bands are co-headlining a nationwide tour with Austin's UME opening the show. The Toadies are touring with a new album entitled Play.Rock.Music. And yeah, while we are diggin the new stuff, we still love the cult classic smash hit album Possum Kingdom. Of course the fans went wild during their performance, with a mosh pit of chicks up front and everyone shouting out, "Do You Wanna Die?!"

Detroit Rock Royalty Fresh off their North American tour and just before they leave to tour Europe with Tenacious D, The Sights took time out last Saturday night to celebrate the release of their latest album, Left Over Right, at the Magic Stick. The party started with Katie Grace, who was followed by The Hard Lessons. After an energetic 30 minutes of high-intensity rocking, the Lessons gave up the stage to The Sights. In what could be the most high-powered openings we've seen in a LONG time, they kicked off with four of their most well-known tracks including singles, "How do you sleep?" and "Circus." Of course, the energy never subsided. And we'll likely be recovering for a while.

Cranium-palooza? Although there weren't as many surgical instruments as we recall seeing last year, Corpus Illuminata II had enough skulls and post-mortem calcium to make up a collective memento mori at the Tangent Gallery last Friday. Our belated suggestion that the exhibit henceforth be called Cranium-palooza was politely tabled, but there was certainly enough familiar skin to note when we weren't doing our "Alas, poor Yorick" shtick at the bar. D-days would like to thank Kristin Industrial-Girl, DVS, Joe Van Bael, Mark Maness, Abida Blaze, Jerry Vile, Kim Hoxworth, Satori Circus and Lori "Polish Princess" Kim for adding color to the whole operation. Here's a very special shout-out, by the way, to Lianna Trimble – an erudite blonde who captivated all of us with a marvelous lecture on trepanning.

There'll Be No World Without You The shelter packed what appeared to be a full house Sunday night as The Spill Canvas returned to Detroit for the first time in two years. Rebounding from a recent hiatus and hot off the heels of a brand new album, Gestalt, the group played an almost two hour-long set for fans that were doing at least half of the singing for front man Nick Thomas. There were a couple surprises in store for not just the audience but two lucky ladies that were the recipient of on-stage marriage proposals during the quartet's performance, with the second of the two young men quoting one of our favorite Spill Canvas tunes, "There's no telling what I would do, waking up to a world without you. Will you marry me?" Along with the rest of the crowd, we swooned and Thomas dedicated their song "Connect the Dots" to the two couples, encouraging them to consummate their engagements to the same tune – once they got home of course.

EDM of Seismic Proportions If the nightclubs of downtown Pontiac were a nuclear reactor, and you were measuring insane levels of partying on a Geiger counter, you'd find the needle teetering at "pretty wild" on any given weekend. If you were at the Crofoot Ballroom this past Saturday night and looked at that needle, it would have registered at "HOLY SHIT!" as nearly 800 EDM fans converged on the corner of Pike and Saginaw for the second annual Midsummer Meltdown, courtesy of the folks at Detroit Rave Scene and Sucker Punch Productions. With a lineup of over 40 DJs spread across five stages, it was impossible to catch every single act. Ryan Start laid down a bone-jarring drum & bass set and left gogo goddesses Cristina Pimental and Michelle Grider both glistening from gyration-earned sweat. Adam "Yoshi" Kirsch played one of the night's more notable sets, wowing the crowd with a combination of D&B and drumstep. (While print space prohibits D-Days from expanding at length on the body moving virtues of Pontoon Joe, Disciple, Gusto, the Static Brothers, Joey P and tech-house heavy hitters Dink & TK, let's just say if you get a chance to hear these guys play, take it!) The main stage allowed us to indulge in the dubstep stylings of Mr. Butch Clancy, and just when we were on the verge of sensory overload from the amazing spectrum of colors in the lasers and visuals, Detroit's favorite master of ceremonies, Promo Paul, emerged from a cloud of liquid nitrogen to introduce the show's headliner – drum & bass O.G. – AK 1200. Never one to disappoint, AK proceeded to beat partygoers (and the bass bins) into submission with a thunderous set until the house lights came on at 2 a.m.

Oh What a Night! A Sunday night celebration of the 40th Anniversary of Pine Knob/DTE Energy Music Theatre and the hope for resurgence of the Detroit Pistons was on tap for an invitation-only crowd of season ticket holders and corporate power brokers at the venerable concert venue. Sheryl Crow headlined and Kid Rock provided a cameo mid-set with a roaring rendition of Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Up Around the Bend" and the hit duet "Picture." Familiar faces in the crowd included Fox 2's Amy Andrews, Piston rookie Andre Drummond and GM Joe Dumars, Senator John Dingell and a roster of Detroit A-Listers. At one point, the Kid exclaimed "Now THIS is a Detroit party" before kissing Ms. Crow on the lips and exiting stage left. | RDW