Continuing with Part Two of my remembrance, I take a look at Wizard Rock Night.

The next night, if you can believe it, was even better than Evil Night, and for me, the very highlight of the conference. Wizard Rock Night featured Tonks and the Aurors, Gred and Forge, the Whomping Willows, and the indelible Harry and the Potters. If there’s one similarity between all of these bands, it’s that they know how to ROCK. Wizard Rock Night showcased the most intense musical performances this writer has ever seen, including Muggle concerts. Wizard Rock Night was also, not coincidentally, the night that most people lost their voices at LeakyCon, myself included.

It started when Stephanie Anderson took to the stage first, and hammered her set out. Everyone in the crowd was into it, and she looked like she was enjoying herself as much as everyone else. She set the bar very high, and I found myself wondering how on earth Jarrod Perkins would be able to top it with his Gred and Forge set next. But top it he did, wrocking harder than anything I’d ever seen. He pulled out all the stops, though the highlight of the set, by far, was hearing Brotherly Love performed live. It is extremely hard for me to decide, to this day, what was more entertaining: the crowd’s reactions, or Jarrod’s masterful guitar-playing.

Again, I found myself wondering how Matt could possibly top this when he came out next with The Whomping Willows. Amazingly, Matt proved me wrong within the first 30 seconds of his set. In a feat of badassery so unparalleled it deserves its own award here from the WRPCA’s, Mr. Maggiacomo walked out on stage, and yelled into the mic, “It’s time to dance, motherfuckers!” before launching into his set with a manic energy. This energy pervaded every single song he played, and he set the standard even higher.

By this point, there was a lot of murmuring going on in the crowd. As we waited for the next band to take the stage, my friends and I all put our heads together and asked ourselves what Harry and the Potters would have to do in order to top that one. I couldn’t think of anything. I had no idea what they’d pull off- and it was a good thing that I didn’t bother speculating, because all Paul and Joe DeGeorge had to do was be Harry and the Potters- something they’re exceptionally good at.

The Harry and the Potters set that night was the single most intense musical experience of my life. They played harder than any band before them. They had more fun on stage (and a whole lot of fun off of it in the crowd). Paul broke strings from playing so hard, and Joe’s voice was nearly gone by the end. And I can assure you that there is nothing more surreal than eating bacon from a series of platters being passed through the crowd courtesy of the DeGeorge brothers at 11:45 at night.

The grand finale topped things off, though, with the band inviting dozens of people on stage to join them in their extremely hardcore take on Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit,’ which in this case is aptly renamed ‘Smells Like Harry Potter,’ seeing as all of the lyrics are replaced with a rhythmic chanting of sorts. As if that wasn’t enough, there was their epic performance of ‘Dumbledore,’ in which the entire crowd joined hands and formed a massive circle, before collapsing into it to wrock out.

Wizard Rock Night reminded me that, even after nearly two years since the release of Deathly Hallows, both the fans and the bands could match the intensity of the pre-release days. The numbers might not be the same, but the experience hasn’t changed one bit. Just as long as the bands continue to love what they do, and the fans still love the music, we will never, ever disappear.

Check out tomorrow’s article for the conclusion!