If anything should be said about the 2016 Battle of the Bands in West Palm Beach is that music talent in Florida is formidable. Six local bands competed for an exclusive spot in the SunFest Lineup for this year: Chemradery, The Ethan Parker Band, The Metropolitan, Raggy Monster, The Resolvers, and Spred the Dub.
The event took place at the vibrant vintage-vibe music room in CityPlace, Lafayette’s. It was a high–spirited night where an enthusiast local crowd mingled and cheered for its favorite band. The event was an important contest for all the participating bands because it would grant the winning performer a spot to play at SunFest on the main stage.
Hundreds of people showed up to support their favorite local band at the 2016 Battle of the Bands. The panel of judges must have had a very difficult task deciding for a single vote because this spectacular event proved all along the great new music local bands are making for the delight of their audience.
Here is how the night unfolded and meet the winner of the 2016 Battle of the Bands…
The first band took the stage around 7:30pm. It was a 5 piece Indie Alternative-Rock and Classical band from West Palm Beach, Raggy Monster. Their gig was powerful and extremely fun, creating at the same time a transcendental vibe to the night.
The Metropolitan was the second band to play at Lafayette’s. I have been around to many music events in the Greater West Palm Beach. Honestly, it is the first time I see this band playing and truth be told, they were incredibly energetic and deserved to be among this select group for the 2016 Battle of the Bands.
The best public party in West Palm Beach is Clematis by Night. One band that is always a hit in the Downtown WPB’s Thursday Night party is Spred the Dub. They also took the stage at Lafayette’s infusing their own brand of “Good Time Reggae” music. The six guys of the band reverberated the night with a lively performance and the crowd exploded with emotions when the lead singer jumped off the stage for a final riff among the multitude.
93.5 The Bar introduced the 4th band to perform and just at the mentioned of The Ethan Parker Band, a great number of attendees whooshed in towards the center of the stage. If the previous performers were dynamic and lively, Ethan’s band immersed in Blues and Folk rhythms with a jazzy influence producing an innovative sound that can only come from the synced talent of many musicians in unison. Actually the band is big, ten members if I remember correctly. The final act by The Ethan Parker Band was an emotional one and a moment of joy seeing the little son of one of the band’s members —Pierre Aristil (bass)— come to the stage with a toy guitar, jamming to the beat of the music his own dad played. It was the most-shared photo of the night!
When you walk into a music room and you find many of its patrons singing the songs of the band playing, you can rest assured you are set for a solid performance. Chemradery blasted the stage with inspiring lyrics and a seriously passionate sound. And the lead singer even made sure we all got our groupie quotient up when he started throwing shirts onto the crowd. If only I could have anticipated the cheerful ladies, I’d be sporting one along CityPlace today.
And just when you thought you had seen it all, The Resolvers took the stage around 10:30PM with rock solid rhythms and bombastic horns. They were the last band to play and really took seriously the importance of the 2016 Battle of the Bands contest. They wrapped up the night with explosive Jamaican music, that was all gruff, funky and energetic at the same time.
Being SunFest Florida’s largest waterfront music and art festival, sponsoring this event celebrates, supports and recognizes the excellence of South Florida’s local bands. The 2016 Battle of the Bands not only offers the winning band the opportunity to perform at the big stage in this year’s festival, but also helps to discover the special abilities of many local musicians with amazing, genuine creativity.
And the winner of SunFest’s 2016 Battle of the Bands was… “The Ethan Parker Band”
Congratulations!
