The Battle of The Bands was a concert that took place at the Iowa Memorial Union Amphitheater on a beautiful summer night by the river. It pitted Bonnibel, Tiger and Little Potion; The Skooma Boys, Wacky Willy’s Weiner Wearhouse & Uncle Earl’s Earwax Emporium, and Critical Mass against one another to find the best band.

Bonnibel started off the night with with some original heavy metal songs, think something along the lines of Metallica or Black Sabbath. To be completely honest they weren’t my favorite, I thought the vocalist didn’t have enough diversity or emotion in the way he sang, but I wouldn’t say they were bad. They were followed up by Tiger and Young Potion, The Skooma Boys with their playful onstage chemistry performing original G-funk songs, akin to The Roots in the way the beat and the chords were structured. I really liked this performance, I’m partial to the style of music they sang and I really enjoyed the way the musicians interacted with each other, it felt like they really liked one another. After, Wacky Willy’s Weiner Wearhouse & Uncle Earl’s Earwax Emporium started with their classic rock take songs like “Mask Off” by Future, “Untitled 03” by Kendrik Lamar, and “Love Bug” by the Jonas Brothers. I thought this band was phenomenal. The way they performed I could tell they really enjoyed what they were doing and I want to listen to this band again. We rounded out the night with Critical Mass playing songs like “Paranoid” by Black Sabbath and “Mr. Brightside” by The Killers. I’m not super knowledgeable about this kind of music but I thought they were pretty good, they were into what they were doing and it sounded great.

The winner was decided by popular vote. Before the winner was announced all the bands stood under the tent talking and shaking hands. Critical Mass took second place with their rock/metal performance, and Wacky Willy’s Weiner Wearhouse & Uncle Earl’s Earwax Emporium took first with their classic rock/rap performance. All in all the bands were good and it was a great show.