Take Battle of the Bands literally. It was a battle with forces moving from floor space to floor space like pegs on a strategy map. Last Saturday from 9 PM to 1 AM in the HUB’s Alumni Hall, the student organizers of the free concert Movin’ On set up stage. Or I guess I should say stages.
After flashing my ID and getting that always exclusive concert bracelet slapped on my wrist, I entered from the back of Alumni Hall into a mood-lit arena with two stages set up in front of the wall of windows. I was ready for a night of good music. The ever artistic Jen Kach assured me of this. She is a member of the core committee for Movin’ On, which she jumps up and down to tell everyone is happening on April 29th on the IM Field West.
But back to the battle at hand, 12 bands duked it out for 4 spaces to play at Movin’ On in addition to the headliners O.A.R., Lupe Fiasco and Little Big Town. Besides the five or six rows of seating set up in front of each stage, the majority of Alumni Hall was open and perfect for roaming or dancing along to the music. And off to the side, by the front doors of Alumni Hall, was a booth for the State College radio station B94.5, fully stocked with T-shirts for the bands to toss to the audience and to crowd banter between songs.
The Had Knots were already jamming on the left stage when I walked in. I think jamming really is the only word I could use to describe them. Their performance was free and fun. The stage was packed with people from a mini horn section to two acoustic guitar players and singers. Their set had a great family feel to it, like these were people who shared their lives and their music. It was fun to watch them laugh with each other. I felt good listening to their songs that I could easily snap and sway to.
A little later in the night, the Zak Sobel Band took to stage right. Each band that played alternated stages from the last band that went on, and each time the next band came on there was a great migration of the crowd to get in front of the right stage. It was a great shuffle to be in the middle of. The Zak Sobel Band was another simply fun band to watch. Zak Sobel himself was a very charismatic front man who liked to call out the guitar and trombone players on their solos. He also did a killer solo on the harmonica during one of their songs. Two couples danced in front of the stage while they were playing and I must admit I danced along myself. How could I not with their dig deep melodies and smooth vocal combinations? Even more impressive than their Battle of the Bands performance was the fact that they were pulling double duty that night. They played Battle at 9:45 and were set to play at the Dark Horse Tavern by 11.
Back to the left stage and near the end of the night, I was also entertained by No Slip Condition. I could probably take or leave their rock music, but they had great stage presence. They joked about being rock star engineers since every member of the band is also a graduate student in Penn State’s Aerospace Engineering program. You even get a taste of that humor of theirs in their online bio that explains NASA’s budget cuts couldn’t make them the first rock band in space, but could send them to State College instead.
By the end of the night I didn’t quite get my wish list bands in the top four, but I will at least get to see the Zak Sobel Band playing at Movin’ On. They took second place in the Battle. The fourth place winners were So Long, Pluto, third place went to Atlas Soundtrack and first place was 5 Cherry Lewis. Now I’m looking out for another great day of music to trek to. 1 month and 1 day!
A Complete List of the Battle Bands: