By Zach Collier
While many battle of the bands-styled events in this world claim to give winners clout or prestige, few of them actually provide any value other than some kind of cash prize at the end. Most are slogs for both the performers and the audience; a wild mess of genres performed to varying degrees of quality, often with overbooked bills and too-long sets. This does little to encourage patrons to attend for any reason other than to tell their musician friends that they came.
Contrast that with Velour Live Music Gallery’s Battle of the Bands, which pretty much asks the question, “What sucks about your average battle of the bands experience?” and then does the exact opposite.
This highly curated event lasts an entire week. Split up into 6 nights, each night is an exciting concert in and of itself. Bands are of the highest caliber, and many attendees come to support friends and walk away fans of bands they’d never heard of before. Cash prizes are awarded, but additional prizes (like studio time) are given to winners and finalists that help them further their creativity.
Essentially the Super Bowl of the Provo music scene, this event has happened semi-annually since 2006. Past winners include Neon Trees, Imagine Dragons, The Aces, and The Backseat Lovers.
Submissions for this year’s Summer Battle of the Bands are now open. Submissions will be accepted May 16 through 11:59 PM (midnight) on May 27. The actual event will take place June 20-25. If you would like to apply to this year’s event, click here. You can read our coverage of the Winter 2021 Battle of the Bands Finals here.
Provo Music Magazine 