There was a strong sense of uncertainty among the crowd at the M-Shop as they wondered what the night had in store. Tranquil audience members were searching a place to sit back, relax and have a few drinks during B-Line’s Friday night performance. The night’s first two acts, The Mountain Goats and Why Make Clocks were able to compliment this mood quite well.

The Mountain Goats, a one man folk artist, opened the show. With its vigorous guitar strumming and often cryptic lyrics, the Goats showed that an angry persona isn’t needed to portray the darker side of life.

Taking the stage next was local group Why Make Clocks. Clocks was able to set the night’s mood with its strong ’70s southern rock sound mixed with hints of blues, folk and indie.

Songs such as “The Big One” with its dark, brooding overtones and surreal guitar work were melodic and rhythmic. The somber lyrics and vocals only added to heaviness of the songs.

The band’s music was full of emotion and a pleasure to watch. Be sure to keep an eye out for future performances by Why Make Clocks. One word of caution, however: the band’s melancholy tones may encourage deep depression.

Neither The Mountain Goats nor Why Make Clocks were able to prepare the audience for B-Line, an energetic pop rock, punk and funk influenced band. A guitar oriented band, B-Line took more of an in-your-face approach than the other acts.

Though the band did exhibit a fair amount of variety in its songs as well as melody and harmony, it seemed B-Line felt every song should be over-loaded with distortion.

With its fat bass chords, feverish drumming and distortion-heavy guitar licks, the band took little time to address the crowd. In an attempt to get the audience motivated, B-Line ripped through songs such as “Falling Over” — an otherwise elegant song if not for all the distortion — and “Nine.”

Catchy as the music was, the crowd, for the most part, didn’t approve of B-Line as much as it did of the opening bands. Almost immediately after the start of B-Line’s set, the crowd slowly began filing out of the bar, until only a handful of people remained. But those who did stay clearly enjoyed the performance as they danced through the majority of the set and cheered enthusiastically after each song.

It wasn’t until after vocalist Mark Holland asked how much of the audience was still awake (not including their friends) that it become clear that most of those who remained for the show were well acquainted with the band.

B-Line showed that it is often difficult to win over a crowd without much of a fan base or publicity, much less an audience that simply isn’t in the mood to hear your style of music.

But even with a steadily dwindling crowd, B-Line members continued to give it their all as they danced and jumped around on stage. In the end, B-Line showed much promise for a band that is just less than two years old. It’s just too bad more people didn’t stick around to find out.