Katharine Lady Berkeley's Battle of the Bands Reviews

Ace of Spades:

Starting the day off with a classic rock kick is the dynamic Ace of Spades. Blaring out “Sweet Child of Mine” and raising their defiant fists to the sky they immediately got our attention in completely the right way. Considering this band had only been together for two weeks it was a cracking performance with humour aplenty.

Bryony, Tae and Priya:

As the youngest entry of the day these girls certainly blew us away with their strong voices and lovely pitching. Playing some awesome tunes courtesy of Jason Mraz and Ed Sheeran they really brought a summery vibe to the whole competition. 

Charlie and Travis: 

This rock and roll duo cooly covered a wide mix of classics whilst putting their own spin on things. They naturally handled big tracks such as “Crazy Train” and “Smoke on the Water’ with ease whilst still being humorous with their delivery.

The Anti-Christs:

With a name like that we really sat up and took notice! Loved their intro to their set with a grungy cover of the Universal theme tune. After literally rocking the truck with their performance and fun crowd interaction they took it one step further. They closed their set by making it rain KitKat Chunky’s amongst the audience with their comedic cover of “Play That Funky Music.” Amazing!

The Unstrung:

This cheeky lot had some serious guts playing the likes of Green Day and My Chemical Romance, but that’s why we loved them! Very engaging band who had the audience in the palm of their hand throughout. Inciting a stage invasion with the rebel raising Anti-Christs they brought the house down in true punk style.

Martha Clements:

As soon as Martha sang her first note we were in awe. Her beautiful vibrato tones made her cover of Kodaline truly come to life. Paired with the dulcet tones of her keyboard her powerful vocals left us speechless. Even the original songs she presented sounded polished and soulful. Love the light and shade in her voice, great performance all round!

Beth Butcher:

Beth was one cool character. Donned in her shades she effortlessly cruised through her set. What we really enjoyed was the clever mash-up of Taylor Swifts Blank Space and Stand By Me by Ben E King. The transition between the two were seamless and gave even more of a slick sound to her vocals. Fabulous quality to her tone which seriously packed a punch. 

Dan Watson and Gareth Hodgkins:

Another awesome duo who brought out the best in some of Nirvana's top hits. They were both incredibly talented, the bassist kept up an intense and high octane tempo whilst the lead guitarist belted out some raucous riffs. Great synergy between them.

The Rebellion:

Now these guys know how to engage an audience! With blaring guitar solos, hard-hitting drums and a big sense of fun The Rebellion are a tight-knit and well-oiled rock machine. Drawing in arguably one of the biggest crowds of the day they kept the entire audience enthralled predominately with their own material. Bonus points for the guitarist jumping off-stage and playing in-amongst everyone! 

Max:

Max bravely stood onstage as the first and only male vocalist of the day and what a range of vocal's he possessed. The low bassy tones of his cover of "Mexico" by The Staves sounded very mature and well put together for his age. He knew how to create a sense of intrigue with his voice, beautiful voice Max!

Steph:

Rounding off today's competition in style was the wonderful Steph. She has such a haunting quality about her tone that it drew us in from her very first track. We were extremely impressed with her musical arrangement of a poem by Rumi. It just added an irrefutable sense originality to her set.

It was a very tough choice but overall our winner for the battle of the bands was... Martha Clements! Congratulations Martha and a big thank you to everyone who performed, you did a fabulous job.

By Melissa Tucker