Saturday was awesome! I had the opportunity to be one of the judges at the Bodog Battle at the Sets in Tempe. I think out of the 27 bands that made the cut with Bodog, only 17 showed to schedule a slot for Saturday’s show. They sorted the bands into two shows, where only 6 bands from each would move into the next level of the competition.
Judging was based not only on performance, but also originality of songwriting, musicianship, and presentation. Each band had 20 minutes to plug and play, and were timed from the moment they stepped on stage.
Seeing so many bands in one day has me relying on my notes, especially for those bands that didn’t really stand out:
Awaking the Fallen kicked off the first show with high energy and a great sound earning high numbers on my ballot. That “purdy” bass shined in the second song, but the guitar solo in the 3rd was barely noticeable. The second band, Demise of Hollywood, was very excited to be playing, but their very high energy led to an incredibly messy stage performance. The overly energetic members of the band seem to be trying a bit too hard, which I think took away some of the quality of musicianship. Their third song was cut short due to technical issues (I overheard someone say a cord snapped).
Thieves in the Temple took way too long to set up and only played one song which was ridiculously long and drawn out. Although the overall sound and quality of the musicianship was good, I wasn’t impressed with the vocals and I couldn’t help but giggle at all the hair (that was bad, wasn’t it?).
Ethnic de Generation had an awesome sound and excellent change ups throughout their set. They were the first to take a “real” guitar solo of the night, and blew me away with their incredibly high energy and great chemistry between members. They were followed by another great band Vitruvian, who really impressed me with their diversity and vocal styling. They put on a great show and clearly had the crowd under their alien mind control.
At this point in the show Ethnic de Generation was clearly my Number 1 pick, but New Mexico’s Bofus took the stage and blew everyone else away. With incredible vocals and heavy guitar rifts mixed with “scratch”, Bofus had the best stage performance out of the early show. The band’s chemistry was amazing, and you could definitely tell everyone at The Sets was into them.
Since Tugboat didn’t show, this allowed all six bands from the early show to move on to the next round of Bodog Battle. Ballots were cast by fans and judges’ numbers were used to tabulate scores for band placement. Judges were asked to rate each category (originality of songwriting, musicianship, presentation, and performance) on a scale of 1 to 5.
My scores: 1. Bofus, 2. Ethnic de Generation, Tied for 3. Awaking the Fallen and Virtuvian, 4. Demise of Hollywood, 5. Thieves in the Temple.
Bodog’s Official places were: 1.Bofus, 2. Vitruvian, 3. Ethnic de Generation, 4. Awaking the Fallen, 5. Demise of Hollywood, 6. Theives in the Temple
The later show kicked off with We Are They. Their set was incredible. I believe the exact term from my notes was “Eclectically wonderful!” The keyboards were amazing and the all around excellent musicianship and energy made We Are They a hard band to follow. Just ask De-Amor, whose set had a good overall sound, but with all too familiar guitar rifts. Nothing about their performance really stood out.
Echotribe followed with excellent musicianship, nice changes, and good energy, but the amazing guitar solos from Kill Me Courageous soon buried the memory of Echotribe’s performance. Although they had 3 guitar players in one band (aside from the bassist), Kill Me Courageous had an excellent sound and great energy without overdoing it. I found out after the show (and the judging) that the lead just joined the band less than a week ago, so I must say I was impressed.
Halfnum was next with an awesome set littered with excellent changes and breaks throughout (I LOVE THAT!). I thought they had an incredible overall sound with vocals fitting in the picture perfectly. One set quickly became another and Delta! Delta! took the stage. Although they experienced some technical problems and were unable to use their keyboard, they were amazing without it. Since I am familiar with their recordings, I have to say that they were just as good if not better live.
School won lots of attention from the crowd at The Sets. Personally, I have a real weakness for 3-piece bands, and they definitely didn’t disappoint. Very “Sublime,” their set showcased funky bass and guitar rifts as well as excellent vocal styling to match. This funky band was probably the most appropriate of the bunch to segue into Mello Mello. They were an R & B group who sang with a CD. Since they didn’t have to set up and check equipment they were able to perform a 4 song set. Their overall sound was nice and they seemed to get a good reaction from the crowd.
One Star Night had an incredibly fun and addictive set. Standing out particularly were the great bass lines, change-ups, and the charismatic vocalist. Their 3-song set definitely left you wanting more. They were followed lastly by Breaking Down who was the only band of the night with a female vocalist. The overall sound and musicianship was good, but I was hoping that I would hear something a little more original in the song writing to really set the vocals apart from the rest of the women fronted bands out there right now.
My scores: 1. We Are They - and I have to say the best show of the entire day! Tied for 2. One Star Night and Halfnum, 3. School, 4. Delta! Delta! 5. Kill Me Courageous
Bodog’s Official Places: 1. We Are They, 2.Breaking Down, 3. One Star Night, 4. School, 5. Kill Me Courageous 6. Mello Mello
Most of the scoring is pretty accurate, I was a little disappointed with the second show, I would have really liked to see Halfnum and Delta!Delta! move on to the next round, but I am excited to see what’s next.
Good Luck to you that made it on through, and we will see you November 30th at The Clubhouse
~2
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