Hawthorne Heights at the Pontiac

Hawthorne Heights at the Pontiac Garage at The Chicago Auto Show!

Hawthorne Heights tapes a spot for Jimmy Kimmel Live and promotes If Only You Were Lonely, set to be released on February 28.

Victory Records' supergroup Hawthorne Heights played a set at the Chicago Auto Show on February 16, 2006 showcasing a few of the songs off their sophomore album If Only You Were Lonely.

It was truly an amazing experience to see Hawthorne Heights perform from the Pontiac Garage at the Chicago Auto Show. A first for many people to see any band at an Auto Show, but with the television cameras perched not so high above the moshing crowd, fans were energized and ready to rock. Immediately after these Ohio boys began, fans began throwing each other all over the place. Surprising given the tight space people had to move around.

Hawthorne Heights played mainly all new material, with the exception of "Nikki FM" and "Ohio is for Lovers" and the new material sounded great. I had seen Hawthorne Heights play a few of their new songs at a show at the House of Blues, however, the band sounded much tighter at the Pontiac Garage.

This was also a taping for Jimmy Kimmel Live!, which added a bit of production elements to the experience. A lady with a headset, who probably had never heard of Hawthorne Heights worked diligently to get the crowd fired up, but it was the band that did the trick. They had to play "Saying Sorry" and "Nikki FM" twice for recording purposes and they also had to do a waving session for ABC promotional spots, which was obviously a little weird for the band.

Overall, the sound was great and the band presented themselves as professionals. Their newest CD hits stores February 28, 2006 and it's going to be huge. This performance is just the start of what is to come of Hawthorne Heights!

Photos and text by: Adam Karol - Senior Editor / Founder