Three generations of musicians — Living Colour, Unlocking the Truth and The Freak Baby Daddies — came together at the Brooklyn Bowl on Feb. 14 to showcase each of their distinctive styles of hard rock and metal.

Those who arrived earlier to the venue saw Living Color and Unlocking the Truth jamming together — sharing the wisdom and creative intensity of performing live. As crowds gathered on the dance floor of the bowling alley two hours later, the concert officially began with The Freaky Baby Daddies.

The Freaky Baby Daddies are a Brooklyn-based, indie and alternative rock band that combines their music with afro-beat and reggae. The Freaky Baby Daddies thrashed and rocked their heads to the music led by lead singer OD Dash’s low, crowd-pleasing vocals. The band got the crowd going as they moved around the stage against fast-paced lyrics and thundering music.

Unlocking the Truth, the metal band that made news headlines when the middle-school-aged band scored a massive record deal with Sony Music Entertainment, went on second. They mostly played instrumental songs, but the lack of vocals did not seem to faze the crowd.

The music beat against the audience’s chests and the sound of electric guitars echoed in their eardrums. The heavy thrashing, while unpleasant to most ears, managed to bring about enough melodic range for audiences to enjoy. Ultimately, however, the forty-five minute performance by Unlocking the Truth served mainly to energize and warm up the crowd for Living Colour.

Living Colour, most well known for their 1984 hit “Cult of Personality,” has a permanent part of the hard rock scene for over 30 years, artfully brought together the crowd with funk, metal, blues, reggae, punk and hip-hop all in one concert. As the crowd clapped and cheered, bassist Doug Wimbash took over the stage with his nine minute bass solo.

Their song lineup was definitely worth waiting for, and included fan-favorite like “Ignorance is Bliss” and covers of “Sunshine of Your Love” and “Memories Can’t Wait.” Living Colour met every expectation of the crowd, and the event was overall a musical success.

Email Sang Bae at [email protected]