Hawthorne Heights “Rocks Out” The Roxian to Delighted Fans

On a cold Sunday night this past fall, the popular rock band Hawthorne Heights, accompanied by an orchestra, heated up the town when they performed for a packed and energetic audience at the Roxian Theatre in McKees Rocks.

The Ohio-based band played through their hit songs such as “Niki FM” and “Ohio Is for Lovers.” The band performed up on stage just like any other rock show, only this time there was a twist. Behind the band was an orchestra that performed their renditions of these early 2000s classic emo rock songs.

“This is something we have never done before,” said lead singer and frontman of the band, JT Woodruff, as he and his band members took the stage. The orchestra was composed of members from all across the world from many different countries, he explained. In addition to performing their hit songs, the band and orchestra delighted fans with graceful and faithful covers of other hit songs from other bands of the same genre.

Woodruff slipped right into the correct pitch to perform other bands’ songs as if he had written those songs himself. It was very clear to everyone in attendance how passionate Woodruff was. He would go on to tell stories in between each and every song and that got laughs, cheers and tears from the amped up audience. Near the end of the show, Woodruff even announced that he would be heading back to the merch stand after the show to greet fans, which also got lots of cheers from the audience members eager to see him.

At one point, the orchestra played their rendition of the extremely popular My Chemical Romance song, “Welcome to the Black Parade.” However, instead of the main band performing this song, lyrics were put up on two screens on each end of the stage and the performance was all put on the shoulders of the orchestra. Needless to say, the orchestra nailed their cover of the song and the conductor would even turn to face the crowd to direct them to sing along to the lyrics which were being displayed. The main band taking five during this had no impact as the crowd sang the words to the song and kept the high energy of the night rolling along.

The Roxian Theatre, which is a small venue, was perfect for this show as it provided a more personable and intimate experience for concert goers. One of the songs performed, a cover of “Misery Business” by the popular band, Paramore, had a guest singer as the vocals needed for it were female. The singer, Kay Enagonio, was actually the person responsible for running the team’s social media pages. She shocked the audience with her stunning vocals and received a standing ovation for her performance of the hit song. Later on, she could even be spotted in the aisles of the small, but quaint theatre, taking photos with her camera and talking to fans.

Hawthorne Heights and the ‘Emo’ Orchestra did not hold back one bit with their performance. They even made sure that each song on the set list was a “staple” of the genre, explained Woodruff. This was very evident as throughout the show you could hear fans from all across the theatre — even the ones on the balcony–passionately singing along to each and every single song. Overall, the show was stunning. Fans could be seen leaving the venue smiling in delight and many did not leave, as they planned to stick around to meet with the front man at the merch stand after the show had ended.

Story and Photo by:  Brandon Schuetz (bms6925@psu.edu)