I'm still blown away by this show. In fact, I'm not even here. I'm not even typing this. I'm still standing at the Firebird, trapped in the world of Baroness, a world stark and desolate, lavish and beautiful.

Stalwart punk anthems for the outwardly tattooed but emotionally fragile: the Smoking Popes, unlikely love balladeers and polite band of brothers, played to a couple dozen enthralled fans at the Firebird on Thursday night.

Clad in Cobainesque red and black plaid, Tanner Merritt, lead singer of O'Brother, stood before a crowd of leather-wearing, hard-art-rock aficionados and pushed his falsetto voice into the microphone.

No doubt about it but St. Louis loves its classic rock, especially when its loud, hard and heavy. And few local bands take the classic genre to extremes like Tok.

The head-banging extravaganza that is Uproar Festival rolled through Verizon Wireless Amphitheater on Sunday. 

A barrage of merchandise tents, non-profits, stages with unfamiliar faces (and names) and active half-pipes is likely to overwhelm even a veteran Warped fan.

Sure, it's been done before. Cursive's done it. Panic! At the Disco did it. The emo concept album, that is. But few bands are quite as ambitious as the Dear Hunter.

Fat Tramp Food Stamp is a metal shredding biker rock band with country twang courtesy of its St. Charles, Mo. roots and beards courtesy of ZZ Top. Fire up the banjos and bang your heads to their live session at KDHX.

What kind of act is the Saw Is Family? This ain't no act. This is metal, punk and rock, played with a tongue-in-cheek sense of fun, and all the noise of a buzz saw shredding sheet metal. Brace yourself for the live session on Greaser's Lunchbox.

Twitchy, noisy, hooky and even a little dreamy at times -- that's the sound of the Counterlife. The Fayetteville, Arkansas band the KDHX studios for a live performance.