Along with the music there was stock car racing, horse racing, carnival rides, and bizarre food; but I didn't take advantage of any of these things.
Dead Yet Alive
The first band up was Dead Yet Alive: an alternative band that's very reminiscent of Depeche Mode. They would often add fuzz to the bass guitar and have a generally darker electronic sound despite the lack of keyboard. Although they had a pretty good sound, their stage presence seemed rather forced as they were jumping around while playing the relatively laid back music. However, the bass player did have some pretty fancy footwork. Overall, not a bad act but really only worth checking out if you enjoy bands like Depeche Mode or Placebo,
Jaded State
Although Jaded State put on a solid show, what really made this one memorable was the involvement of fans within the show. For this one, they brought up a fan to sing the last verse of Green Day's "Longview" and brought people up on stage during "You've Got Guilt" to start a small party. Fans got very energetic while enjoying the band stage side; jumping up and down until a section of the stage collapsed. All in all, a very solid performance from the five piece pop-punk group.
Trance
Trance is a very talented five piece that blends blues, jazz, and rock all into a silky stream of musical goodness. The multi-faceted talents of the female co-lead will grab your attention right away as she is proficient on guitar, piano, and alto saxophone. Instrumentally, the rest of the band sounded solid and managed to put on a show while playing moderately difficult parts. Both the female and male lead vocalists had particularly polished sounds which just complemented the rest of their polished sound. The one drawback to trance is that they really lack edginess due to their music genre. But, if you are in large part a person that enjoys some of the previously mentioned genres, Trance is certainly worth checking out at the link below.
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheTranceBand/featured
Far-Sighted
Continuing the lack of edginess route, Far-Sighted, who had previously played at the regional round in Algonquin with Jaded State, played essentially the same show that they had in the previous round. More or less a very polished 50s rock sound with a foundation on their skill at their respective instruments, they went up on stage, played some throwbacks, and went off satisfying the older crowd.
Although there really isn't much to say, Far-Sighted are still a band that are definitely worth checking out. I would give them a listen.
Four Rifts
Four Rifts are a four piece metal band that there really isn't much to say about. They have a very generic sound with very mediocre talent. Definitely not a bad group but very unmemorable.
For those of you reading that did not know the result already, let's just say that it was rather surprising. Third place was stolen by Four Rifts, second place snagged by Far-Sighted, and first place was unsurprisingly earned by Trance. I thought this was odd, especially considering how unremarkable Four Rifts was. I would have picked either of the bands that didn't place before them. But I'm not a judge so, whatever.
Also, I found it interesting that in the regional round, Jaded State was able to surpass the second place winner Far-Sighted but didn't place this time. In my opinion, Jaded State should have at least gotten third place. No doubt about it.
The best explanation I can come up with is the particular judges that were at this contest. They were definitely older. I don't think there was a single judge under the age of 50. So, perhaps none of the judges like pop-punk or punk related genres at all. It's possible that this is the case.
It just kind of reinforces my opinion on battle of the bands competitions. It's all a difference of opinion and when you have bands of different genres competing, they're incomparable. You can't compare a 50s style rock band to a metal band or to a pop-punk band or to an 80s style pop band. It just doesn't work. Although it's still better than those audience applause meters, having judges for music contests doesn't make sense.
Music contests don't make sense.
I thought that first place to Trance was well-deserved though. They are truly a talented group with a lot of skill at all instruments along with good stage presence and great sound. I congratulate them on their victory and hope to see them around sometime because I would love to see them play again.
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