Remembering The 21 And Under Battle Of The Bands

This is one of the things I'm most proud of.

Let's start with the topic of "Battle Of The Bands" in general. I hate them. If you book ten bands, nine of them go away pissed. If 100 people show up to watch, 90% go away pissed. Bands have yet to realize that on any one night, on any one performance, even the band perceived to be the lowliest band on the bill can have a really good night and win it all.

So I met with the folks at 4th On Broadway about the possibility of FMX hosting a "rock tent" for the annual celebration. It was then proposed that we do a "Battle Of The Bands". Now I know what's really up with most Battle Of The Bands situations, it's the event organizer trying to pack the place just by booking a bunch of bands and hoping that their pride will get their fans out to support them for a win. Oh, and you usually only have to pay or give a prize to one of the bands (did I say how much I don't like Battle Of The Bands yet?).

Anyways, your boy has a little thing he does. He knows when someone hits you with an idea the best thing you can do is to have a better idea to counter with. I came up with the 21 & Under Battle Of The Bands. The reasons for this are simple, the 21 & under crowd would be happy just to have a place to play, they aren't burnt out on these clusterfluffy events, and so on.

As luck would have it, it worked for many, many years before the ranks of the younger bands thinned out. We also wanted to get back to having our own 4th celebrations with our families. Still, there are many bands that we are glad we could give this opportunity to. They also played to a packed tent on the 4th and we frequently used them to open national gigs as well. For many of them, it was the most people they ever played to and for some, it was the only gig they ever played. I hope everyone has as fond of memories of these shows as I do.