Battle of the Bands write up by: Guillermo Lopez

The battle of the bands finals show was a great way to end an awesome competition. Bands from Yuba City, Sacramento, and of course Davis all fought for the right to be dubbed "Davis grad Tuesday night fights champion." The show itself was a huge success, drawing more than 420 people to the grad. And they weren't disappointed as the three surviving bands ripped the stage. The three bands performing that night were Glug, From Mathilda, and Tryte. The order was determined earlier in the night by a drawing backstage, and the bands were set to go. Glug led off the evening and did not let opening the show take away from their energy and truly got the night started. The legion of Glug fans came out to support their local heroes and drink many a pint. With inspired guitar play, and Colin's faithful rebel yells, people left their seats and rushed the stage. As the venue filled with many more people, it was clear we were headed for a great show. The next band to play that was From Mathilda and they kept the crowd rocking. It was clear they had brought their "A" game (along with their own stage back drops) and had no intention of letting down the now full house. Though there was no guitar smashing onstage, as they had done in the quarterfinals, the energy traveled through the Grad and grabbed people by the goobers. When the dust had settled, they had won over more than a few new fans. But the night belonged to Tryte, who closed out the show with their smooth sounds and had the crowd singing along to their set. Though they weren't as loud as the first two bands, they wrapped the show up nicely and even stage dove fro about half a second. The evening ended with Tryte's stirring rendition of The Beatles, "Don't let me down." When the votes had been counted, Tryte was the clear winner of the night and took home $600.00 in first place money, and a nifty trophy as well. The battle for second was nearly a dead heat, with Glug edging out From Mathilda by one vote. Democracy had spoken, and the people had chosen their champion. The concert, put on by Dos Changos Productions, exceeded most expectations and provided a great end to the school year. All three bands played with the sort of raw energy that you may expect at bigger venues, but for one night- the Grad truly rocked. All in all the grad was the place to be on June 12 and if you missed the show, you better ask somebody.

Look out for all three bands at the Grad this year and please come out next year for the Battle of the Bands II, the Search for Ricardo's Gold.