Belgrade, MT - The 1st annual Belgrade Battle of the Bands, presented by Billion Cares, 104.7/105.7 The Eagle, and the Panther Music Boosters, was a huge success. Hundreds of people showed up each night to cheer on their favorite bands. On Friday, Bake and Zepp from the Eagle kept the crowd pumped up as they announced each of the four competing cover bands, Scott’s Garage, Wilde Hix, The Hall Passes, and Tyran’t. Four of Belgrade’s Music teachers rocked out on stage in their newly created band, The Hall Passes, and they did not disappoint. All four bands were incredibly talented, but in the end, Wilde Hix came out on top taking home the Grand Prize for the Night, an Epiphone SG Classic Worn P-90S Electric Guitar from Music Villa, and a Marshall MG15FX Amp donated by Ekroth Music. Tyran’t came in a very close second, a mere 1 point behind, to win a $100 gift certificate donated by Music Villa.

The bands were scored on stage presence and professionalism, technical ability, difficulty, appearance, and creativity by four amazing celebrity judges including Thad Beaty of Sugarland, who has written songs that have charted in the top 10 and performed on stage with Beyonce’, Lady Gaga, Rhianna, Bon Jovi, and many more; Annie Clements, who recently performed alongside Maren Morris at this year’s Grammys, Luke Flansburg of Pinky and the Floyd, Dead Sky, MOTH, and Tsunami Funk; and Brandon Edwards who leads the music experience for audiences of thousands every week as the Worship and Arts Pastor at Journey Church. The crowd also got a chance to participate by voting for the People’s Choice Award. This year’s crowd favorite was Scott’s Garage!

About halfway through the show Belgrade Sophomore, Hannah Main stepped onto the stage to sing Before He Cheats, not as a competitor, but to keep the crowd entertained in between bands. When her backing track started to play, it was the wrong song, which made for a slightly awkward moment, but she took it in stride and two of the celebrity judges quickly jumped into action. Thad and Annie hopped up on stage, grabbed the guitar that Gibson had donated for the raffle, and came to the rescue. Annie told Thad which chords to play and together they played and sang backup as Hannah performed her song. It was truly an incredible moment and the videos Annie shared on her social media pages have been viewed well over 2,500 times! (fb.com/AnnieClements.Music, @annieclements on Instagram3)

Six original bands took to the stage on Saturday night for their chance to compete for a 4-hour recording session at Jereco Studios with the Eagle playing their professionally recorded song on the radio and an opening gig at Music in the Mountains in Big Sky this summer. Emma and the Ledge, who recently won the Beast of Bozeman, kicked off the show, followed by Shock, Bottlecap, Liquid Gnar, J.A.D.E. and False Fiction. All the bands were incredibly talented and the judges, Paige Rasmussen a multi-award winning Musician and lead singer of Paige and the People’s Band, Jake Flemming, of Pinky and the Floyd and The Tiny Band, Joshua McKendry of Basecamp Recording Studio, a producer, audio engineer, composer and educator, had the difficult task of selecting the winner. The top award for Best Original Band and the People’s Choice Award both went to Liquid Gnar, whose drummer is Belgrade’s own Middle School band teacher, Mr. Binder, affectionately renamed Mr. Bender by Bake and Zepp. The award for best Belgrade student band went to Emma and the Ledge.

The goal of this event was to create a fun and exciting annual event for our whole community while raising much-needed funds for the Belgrade Music Program, and the organizers of the event, the Panther Music Boosters, exceeded all expectations, raising well over $10,000 and giving kids the opportunity to be Rock Stars.

“Such an amazing debut event! I loved everything about it.” said Chris McNeil, a Belgrade Mom.

“The organization was wonderful, the bands were amazing. A great family friendly event. Thank you to everyone who worked on this event. I’m already looking forward to next year!!”

With all the positive feedback they have received, organizers have already started planning next year’s event. If you would like to help, please reach out to the Panther Music Boosters at info@panthermusic.net. For updates on this event and other happenings involving Belgrade Musicians follow the Panther Music Boosters on FaceBook at fb.com/PantherMusicBoosters or Instagram at instagram.com/panthermusicboosters/