One of the things that PAX has that E3 never did are the amazing concerts. Tonights venue included The 1UPS, Optimus Rhyme, Freeze Pop, and the Neskimos.

I'd like to state that I'm not a fan of bands that play video game music. I believe there's a time and a place for it. With that said, The 1UPS have totally changed my opinion. With two guitars, a bassist, a keyboard, a tenor Sax, and a violin, the tunes that were produced were not only original sounding, but vibrant. It's like game music was born again. Even better, they branched their track list outside of the normal Mario and Zelda and included songs from Chrono Trigger, God of War, the background music for the Mii Chanel, Paper Boy, and more! With only three stops in the entire set, The 1UPS were an amazing opening act. 

Optimus Rhyme took the stage next. Not only did they perform three unreleased songs, but they were joined by fellow nerdcore rappers Beefy and MC Frontalot as well as Broken English, who made his appearance back at the first PAX. Optimus always plays a high-intensity show, singing their lyrics so fast your world will be rocked by the last song. Front man Wheelie Cyberman did an amazing job of working the crowd and utilizing the new larger stage. My only complaint was that the backup vocals were not loud enough on either the band or the special quests. 

Freezepop then came on. I had heard they were featured in a ton of rhythm games (Karaoke Revolution comes to mind), and they were obviously a crowd favorite. The band consisted of two keytar players, so there was no chance for anything less than awesome, and a female singer. After a stellar performance from Optimus, the adrenaline stopped pumping as hard as it had been, and Freezepop wasn't exciting enough to keep it going. I decided it would be the best time to start heading home since I could feel my legs start to buckle.

I missed out on the Neskimos, but I had heard their metal versions of game tunes last year at PAX and wasn't impressed. I needed to get home, as I've have to be heading back to another PAX-filled day in 5 hours.