This Saturday, March 7, starting at 7PM The Brightside is hosting the finale for the Dayton Battle of the Bands. After six initial rounds of judging and 27 bands later, the finalists are: Obscured, Catsteel, Tronee Threat, Good Soup, Yuppie, and Paid Leave.
The Dayton music scene has exploded in recent years with new faces, and this growth is evident at Dayton Battle of the Bands says Libby Ballengee, the music booker and promoter for The Brightside.
"One of the coolest things is the audience has grown. This year we were fully all six weeks in the ballroom so we were able to accommodate a lot more people. It just feels like it has grown each year and we're just so grateful to the community for supporting us and just being interested in local bands."
This year's finalists come from different genres and represent some of Dayton's unique musicians rather than the usual rock bands one would expect from this sort of competition.
"I think it's a really great way for people to explore different music and kind of get a little bit out of their comfort zone." says Ballengee. "I think a lot of times people are so,'I just wanna go see a cover band. I wanna go hear the stuff I know.' But there's an adventure in going to see original music and we're hoping that this kind of helps spark the love of discovering original music locally."
Previous finales of this event have sold out before, so attendees are encouraged to buy pre-sale tickets online at daytonbattleofthebands.com.
Pre-sale tickets come with the option to order sandwich from Tony and Pete's delivered directly to the venue, and these tickets also act as a ballot for voting the top three bands. There will be no judges for this year's finale as the audience decides the winners. To keep the party rolling while the ballots are being counted 2024 Dayton Battle of the Bands winners Freakquency will perform a set courtesy of Toxic Brew Company.
