The Campus Activities Board and Hamilton’s radio station, WHCL, co-hosted a vibrant night of live music, merchandise giveaways, energetic cheering and socializing at Battle of the Bands on Sat., Feb. 20. The event sponsored by FebFest featured ten Hamilton student bands and solo performers who took the stage of the Events Barn for a short two song set each.
Students lined up the staircase and into the upper level of the Events Barn, awaiting one of the last opportunities for a FebFest merchandise drop before the doors opened at 6:00 p.m. Saturday evening. Members of CAB gave out sky blue t-shirts made just for the Battle of the Bands, featuring a polar bear, seal and penguin all playing instruments in their own FebFest band. As students piled into the Events Barn, the mood was peaceful until the whole crowd stood in anticipation for the band Simurgh, who then graced the audience with a hard metallic rendition of Britney Spears’s “Toxic.” The crowd bopped up and down with the loud cover, screaming along to Spears’s lyrics. Most remained standing the rest of the night, singing and swaying along at some points, jumping and loudly cheering at others.
Despite the mandatory ventilation break halfway through the event, the second half of the night featuring the last five bands attracted the same audience, plus more avid watchers. The floor overlooking the stage was full, with only a little squeeze room to get by, while the upstairs rotunda was packed as people viewed the performances from above. As people excitedly jumped for SLUNA and passionately sang along to Junior Varsity’s cover of “Valerie,” the audience was upbeat and encouraging to match the passionate energy of the student performers.
Georgia Brown ’25, a keyboardist and backup vocalist for both Junior Varsity and Yonic Youth, played two sets at Battle of the Bands and identified her favorite songs she performed as “I Wish” and “Play That Funky Music.” When asked about her experience as a performer in this event, she said, “The crowd was awesome — it was so great to see so many people there.” She was grateful to be able to see and support a diverse group of performers and said, “the awesome thing about short sets is that you get to see a lot of talented people perform, so I had a lot of fun watching everyone else.”
From soloists like Eva the Diva and her soothing performance, to bigger bands like Uptown Booty and their danceable songs, Battle of the Bands featured diverse music and represented the far reaching talents of Hamilton students. Many students, like Brown, were onstage several times performing with different bands, speaking to their commitment and passion for music. Brown spoke to her experience in the music scene at Hamilton as one full of people who are “so talented and friendly, so I love getting to play with everyone and getting to know them. It’s also awesome to see how much people love the shows.”
The fact that the audience was packed speaks to student excitement over watching their friends and classmates perform. No matter what music was performed or who it was performed by, the audience was incredibly active and showed unwavering support to each performer, putting on display the closeness of the Hamilton community.
Despite the friendly and supportive nature of Battle of the Bands, the event was a contest to determine which student band will get to perform on Class & Charter Day. The event featured two rounds of voting, one after the first section of performers, and another after the second section. Audience members who attended the entire first and/or second acts were able to vote on their favorite band/performer, and who they believed should open for the headliner on the annual Class & Charter Day. After counting the votes, CAB announced that Uptown Booty and Vandigo won the Battle of the Bands; they will perform for students on the last day of classes of the Spring 2022 semester in May.
