With the approach of the holiday season comes an onslaught of music festivals and concerts ranging from KROQ’s “Almost Acoustic Christmas” to KIIS FM’s “Jingle Ball.” But, as any avid concert attendee knows, the quality of an artist’s talent can diminish significantly when devoid of the magical touch of auto-tune. There are, however, a few singers, rappers, and bands who not only maintain the quality of their music, but are even better when seen in person.

Rock

Motion City Soundtrack, which years ago was heard on every major radio network, recently reunited and released a new album, “Go.”  To promote the album, the band has recently gone on tour, visiting several West Coast cities including Pomona. The band never fails to play plenty of fan favorites including “The Future Freaks Me Out” and “Everything is Alright.”

Justin Pierre, the front man, sounds amazing live; it is clear that he takes the utmost care of his voice. The quality of his vocals actually sounds as if it were ripped from a recorded CD.

The entire band is energetic and is clearly passionate about the music it plays, particularly Jesse Johnson who jumps, screams, and dances in the background while Pierre sings. It is obvious that they make music simply because they love doing so.

Rap

Dumbfoundead is a Korean-American, K-town resident. He frequently performs at Los Angeles venues, from LACMA to the Troubadour. He plays a huge role in the Asian-American scene and was even recently a judge at the National Kollaboration show.

It is already clear that he is an amazing rapper on his mix tape, he is absolutely incredible live. “Cellphone,” which also features Breezy Lovejoy and Wax, hardly sounds like the same song when heard in person. He just has so much power and vivacity when performing live.

Dumbfoundead’s best feature, however, comes from his ability to work a crowd. With ease, he is able to keep the crowd entertained with his amusing and humorous anecdotes. Dumbfoundead has a natural confidence that comes easily to him and translates well when he performs.

K-pop

The K-pop group, Big Bang, definitely has a huge following internationally and it recently had two concerts in Anaheim at the Honda Center. In the media, they are sometimes referred to as the “Kings of K-Pop.”  CNN even named the group as one of the top 12 reasons to visit South Korea. Big Bang is truly a performance based group, as much of K-pop tends to be. So to really experience the full package, you truly need to see them live. They definitely focus on shock value and special effects.

The show was really, quite well organized. Unlike most concerts, the show actually started on time and the transitions between the songs were also very clean.

All five members were very engaged with the audience. They made physical contact with some audience members occasionally and even threw out personal items such as towels and even jackets. It is obvious that the group really cares for its fan base and understands the importance of appealing to its fans.