Oktoberfest weekend began with an inspiring Spirit Week, diving into Color Wars on Friday, which was followed by Battle of the Bands from 5 to 10pm later that evening. The event is held every year to start off the excellent live band line-up throughout the week. It is sponsored by WMLU, Longwood University's Radio Station, and allows students the opportunity to perform and compete amongst fellow musicians. In the end, one band is selected as the overall winner of that night's battle and will then be hired to open for Bandfest in the spring. Competitors are not only judged on their musical talents, but also how well they interact and keep the attention of the crowd.
Originally, eight bands were slated to play, but three ended up dropping out. These bands were ‘I Am the Kid,' ‘The Fences,' ‘No Control,' The Co-Pilots,' ‘Katie and Zack,' The Leeks,' Who Took Fred,' and the ‘No Shows. ‘The Fences' withdrew from the competition three hours before the show began, causing a gap in the line-up. It was filled by Chip Hale, a WMLU member, who volunteered himself to fill the hour gap by playing and singing guitar on a whim, saving the day and ensuring that there would be no gap in the music. The band ‘Who Took Fred' also did not perform. The ‘Co-Pilots' are a punk garage rock band and they performed well, holding their own on stage and keeping the crowd alive. ‘Katie and Zack' performed a very acoustic inspired song set, while ‘No Control' stuck to a rock based song set, keeping the music fresh and showing how different each band truly was in terms of music and performances. The last band to perform did so without their entire band, the drummer having broken his leg, but they still played and closed up for the night, regardless. "There was a really good crowd and the event overall went well, it was just behind the scenes. It was crazy because so many bands were dropping out. And then when asked if they had a rain plan because of the look of the sky, they admitted to not really having one. It was crazy," said Ashley Bowels, a coordinator of the event and WMLU member.
‘The Leeks,' one of the rock bands that performed, played very well. "They were one of best bands that played in my opinion," said Chuck Wongus, a WMLU coordinator of the event. "I really liked the way they sounded. I thought that their choice of tunes was very diverse and the sound as well." Wongus also gave his opinion in regards to the band he liked the least. "The last group who went on were the ‘No Shows.' They were pretty unprepared when they got up there. When they came on stage they sounded pretty horrible altogether," said Wongus. The group did struggle a bit with their lack of members, but they did choose to perform instead of dropping out of the competition, which was well-received by everyone, as three bands had already dropped out.
The winner is chosen by a panel of Longwood students. They each have a score card and judge the bands based on their music, performance on stage, and audience involvement, as well as overall performance. The points are then all tallied up and the winner is decided based on who receives the most points. ‘I Am the Kids' biggest competition was, in Wongus's opinion, ‘The Leeks.' "Their scores came very close to each other," said Wongus.
This year's winner was ‘I Am the Kid,' a local metal band. They beat out the other bands, coming close in numbers to only one other band. Overall, The Battle of the Bands ended on a high note, with no rain and a pretty nice crowd to cheer on the inspiring and impressively talented musicians.
