When locals Betawolf took the stage, their energy was sadly not reflective of the audience size. That however didn’t stop these rockets from Los Angeles from giving a very energetic performance of some 10 of their original songs. Their setlist included, in this order, “Dig”, “Turn Up The Radio”, “Say It To Me now”, “Afraid of the dark”, “Undertow” and “Girl On Fire”. If you want to check out Betawolf live, they will be back in Orange County, according to their MySpace, on April 2nd for a National MS Society Benefit at the Yost Theatre in Santa Ana, however don’t bother verifying it at the Yost Theater website, as it doesn’t look like it’s been updated in a few months.

Next was Janus, a hard rock band out of Chicago that came out in full force with pre-recorded beats and all. I had seen this once before but never with a full band. They intro music and background sounds for their set pre-recorded and played at the right time. This, along with the band created a good mix of hard rock music with an edge. The singer, David Scotney, during the set decided to jump in the audience for parts of a song leaving members wanting more. When they were singing the hit song, “Eyesore”, the audience was going crazy. For more information on them feel free to visit their website.

It seemed like a good 45 minutes between Janus and Sick Puppies, but by the time they finally took the stage it was well worth it.  During that time the venue was filling up to a respectable size, most of whom can be heard talking about the Sick Puppies even before they got on stage.

First, Emma Anzai aka the “Female Flea” came out rocking out to some sound-checking tunes, at the same time getting the audience excited – however, the audience needed no help getting ready for the Sick Puppies.

Shimon Moore started singing “War" and “Cancer” which had the audience singing and a select few jumping up and down. After the songs Shimon decided to play a guy vs girl screaming game... the women won (remind me to buy earplugs next time). That didn’t however disappoint Shimon, who, promised there would be a rematch before the end of the night and the guys need to get ready.

Next was “Survive”, “My World” and “Odd One” which was dedicated to all the females in the audience, once again, getting the girls loud and excited. Followed was “Riptide” and “All The Same”

Around this time Shimon directed everybody over the Emma who was doing a solo bass melody, Shimon put the mic down, and ran around the venue getting everybody that was in sitting down in the eating area down to the dance floor. All while Emma kept things going with a bass melody with some help from the drummer Mark Goodwin.

After Shimon came back the new game was on. Sing along, however, this time it was a song everybody somehow knew. What came was very entertaining and had everybody involved. A custom song that combined Destiny's Childs' "Say My Name' And the “Pants On The Ground” song.

Now it was time to Jump up and down Shimon said. I think he wanted to see people run around but was playing it safe by asking them to jump. “Maybe”, “Should've Known Better” and “Anywhere But Here” followed. While in-between each song A little interaction back and forth with the crowd, getting people excited, keeping them jumping – and the willing crowd listening to every word.

But now it was time for a rematch, where are my earplugs? Ok... no point to go into details here – the women kicked our ass. But this time the game was played while Shimon had what looked like to be an In-n-Out hat on that I think he took from ;somebody in the front row? Later – the girl he took the hat from was almost crying in excitement “he was wearing my (paper disposable) hat” wtf?

To end the night, the Sick Puppies played “Pitiful” and “You’re Going down”.

Afterword’s the chanting of “encore, encore!” being demanded from the audience was addressed with Shimon stating that per the venues rules, they aren’t allowed to play anymore but that, if they wanted, the fans could meet band members near the front entrance of the venue.

I will be honest with you guys, before going there I didn’t know what to expect. In the end, its safe to say not only was it a great show but I feel sorry for everybody that didn’t attend. The Sick Puppies are hands down the most fun the Galaxy Theatre has seen so far this year.  I just hope that next time the venue is at capacity – however, I don’t think there will be a next time , because, in the next 2-3 years I see the Sick Puppies headlining larger venues worldwide.