After four weeks of competitive gigging, the dust has settled on X103.9's Fall Frenzy Showdown. What started back in August culminated in last night's seven-way battle for a slot on this year's main stage featuring Blink 182, Matt & Kim and Jimmy Eat World.
Local bands, Saving Shea, Halocene, Howard Til Midnight, We Were Strangers, Fayuca, Poz & Infekt, and Valley Love duked it out at the Marquee Theater. The show started at 7 p.m. and wrapped up at midnight. Each band had 30 minutes to rally the support of their faithful fans and sway the judges votes.
Fayuca ended up closing the finale with a badass ska/reggae rendition of Mexican Rock en Espanol classic, "La Negra Tomasa," and as soon as their set was over, Howard Til Midnight fans rushed back into the theater chanting "H-T-M, H-T-M," which incited Fayuca fans to respond in kind. The crowd kept this up while the decision was announced.
Within 10 minutes the verdict was rendered and much to the surprise of the remaining concertgoers, Halocene emerged victorious. A few scattered cheers rang out but were quickly drowned out by a chorus of boos. Some guys hurled plastic cups of booze at the stage and chanted bullshit as security wrangled everyone out.
Whether or not the judges got it right is debatable, but at the of the day Halocene has a date with a couple of pretty big names.
Fall Frenzy goes down Friday, September 30 at Tempe Beach Park.