Battle of the Bands Final – L/N/028 – 21/02/09

BoB Final : A night to remember

Competing in Langwith last night were Magnapow!, Little Jimmy's Flaming Funk Orchestra, Tin Pan Valley, The Goslings and Gurmeet Singh's Percussion Buffet.

The doors to The Courtyard opened after much anticipation and a slight wait around 9.15pm. Despite the ever-increasing prices of the performances – £4 for the heats, £5.50 for semi finals and £7 for the final – a long queue had formed outside the venue.

As with York Come Dancing, YSTV filmed the performance and provided backstage interviews as well as the judges’ comments, giving the whole affair a new-found air of professionalism - in spite a few technical mishaps throughout the night.

After minor delays, allowing us and everyone else to take advantage of the drinks offers before the bands took stage, Magnapow! raved on into our lives in their neon-coloured apparel and flashy sunglasses, greeted by an enthusiastic and energetic crowd.

Despite being the opening act, they managed the impressive feat of getting the whole audience involved in their ‘record-breaking,’ engaging in a game of ‘Bop It!’ for one. Their cover of the Spice Girls was not only innovative, but fun, qualified, by a certain second-year History and Politics student as "fucking ace!"

Although the vocals weren’t perfect throughout the performance, the singers’ stage presence and energy were extremely valuable, along with the strong brass and rhythm sections, and got the crowd cheering, screaming, dancing, earning them well deserved praise from the judges.

The suited-up members of Little Jimmy Flaming Funk Orchestra came next, and wowed the crowd with their cover of ‘Ghostbusters’. The vocalist's performance was particularly impressive. However, as noted by one judge, and many members of the crowd we spoke to, she rarely graced the stage with her voice!

Though some considered the rap-interlude ill-advised suggesting that, "no one liked the film, and no one likes the song" when talking about ‘Wild Wide West,’ the audience definitely appeared happy on the whole.

Probably trying to follow in Magnapow!’s footsteps the band, a "post-ironic take on late eighties culture" according to one student, tried to muster audience participation with little success, by 11pm the notion having lost some of its novelty.

The judges suggested that the drummer’s performance was a bit "iffy". Unfortunately with the noise both in L/N/028 and The Courtyard, it was, throughout the evening very difficult to make out any of the judges’ feedback.

Speaking to some of the judges in between the performances, The Yorker observed very different reactions. One member of the jury felt "very impressed by the standard and the music" of the evening, claiming even that they would have paid £12 for such a "great gig", whereas another felt "disappointed" in the sense that there seemed to be nothing new or "revolutionary" about the music.

Tin Pan Valley came on next, delivering their ‘funny indie’ music to a crowd less keen on dancing than before. But they definitely had fans - we couldn't help hear the screams from the crowd as their front man took over the stage with his voice and dance moves.

With an amusing Disney medley 'Disney Innuendo' (first performed by Porcelain Flamingo at last year's BoB) and other oldies like Barry, Tin Pan Valley was certainly met with enthusiasm. Although at times the musicians seemed to have more fun than the audiences and the singer seemed slightly out of place, Tin Pan Valley gave a good performance, with the final result proving this.

Next came The Goslings whom were greeted by shouts of "We Love Dick!" as Dan Wood, Jack and the Beanstalk’s Dick Turpentine, came on stage with his saxophone. Having worked on their unity and brought their talented vocalist Anuradha Sajjanhar into the spotlight, The Goslings’ performance and the surprise introduction of two inflatable ducks certainly pleased the crowd.

A mixture of their own songs (such as ‘Chinatown’ and ‘Upside Down’) which showed ingenuity and funk, and a cover of 'Feeling Good' may have impressed the audience but the voters unfortunately didn't reward them with their slips. Once again the judges' comments were mostly positive, although very hard to understand with their low volume and loud crowd.

Gurmeet Singh’s Percussion Buffet were the last to perform, and what an end to an amazing night. They kept the crowd literally on their toes: "How can people stand still?!" asked a first-year PEP student. The samba beats seemed impossible to resist and inevitably got the crowd dancing.

With the audience intermixed with the band they took over L/N/028 with their conga line and crazy beats. Their Pendulum cover was well received, with amazing brass accompaniment giving the music more depth the band certainly fired up the audience and stole the night.

Although the judges suggested that they "still slipped with rhythms" they were praised for being "visually brilliant,".

Final Results

1st place: Magnapow!

2nd place: Tin Pan Valley

3rd place: Gurmeet Singh’s Percussion Buffet

All the bands gave their best, and what a night that led to - we certainly enjoyed ourselves! Although the results may not have been as we had hoped the final three to stand, we're both in agreement that Woodstock will be another amazing year and that the competition has proven that York not only excells academically.

Add Comment

You must log in to submit a comment.