Bruce
Position: Tied Third
Katherine’s Rating: 7.5/10
Honourable Mention: Best Sexy Saxophone Solo

Bruce was the first college to perform for the evening, successfully getting the crowd pumping with an excellent rendition of their mash up, playing both “Talk Dirty to Me” and “Problems”. This band obviously deserved their placing, they managed to do the extremely difficult task of getting people into band night. Obvious other highlights include their cover of “Take On Me”, the Big Reel Fish third wave ska version, and “Roll Up My Sleeves”, a song I had not even heard of until the event. Their band had an adequate number of people, with the two singers proving to be enough alongside a very musically tight brass section.

Johns
Position: Bottom Four
Katherine’s Rating: 6.5/10
Honourable Mention: Best Cover of An Australian Classic

Johns was a highly anticipated performance this year considering their win in 2014. However a lacklustre performance of 2014 songs “Uptown Funk” and “Shake It Off” did not pick up the crowd’s mood, having been previously set by Bruce. That being said, the Johns male singer, who was unbelievable last year, really got the crowd going with their excellent cover of Cold Chisel’s “Khe Sahn”. I have never seen a crowd getting pumped up considerably and sing ‘the last plane out of Sydney” so loudly in my entire life. Though not a song choice I would make it was obvious this advantageous bet worked in Johns favour.

Burgmann
Position: First
Katherine’s Rating: 8/10
Honourable Mention: Most Unannoying Use of a Megaphone in History

With a very strong entry into the competition it is not surprising that a band so tight and musically clever as Burgmann’s came first, however they were not my personal favourite. The sound effects for their introductory song “Feel Good” were excellent, speaking through a megaphone into a microphone, giving an isophonic sound (okay, no more Ancient Greek jokes). It seems it has been many years since I have attempted to rap to “American Boy”, I suspect this was the same for everyone else in the audience.

Unilodge
Position: Bottom Four
Katherine’s Rating: 6.5/10
Honourable Mention: Most Likely to Throw Something into the Crowd

The Unilodge band was inconveniently placed before intermission when everyone wants a break. Unilodge had a very good set of songs, however I felt their band was lacking in enthusiasm. I feel Unilodge was a better band than Johns due to the fact that Johns wasn’t very consistent with their songs whereas Unilodge was. Also, it’s never a bad idea to play “Take Me Out”. Unilodge does get a dishonourable mention of least favourite mash up of the evening. The performance overall was enjoyable but I felt they had too many singers.

Fenner
Position: Bottom Four
Katherine’s Rating: 7/10
Honourable Mention: Most Likely to Use the Dirty Version of a Song

I have always seen Fenner as a very brave college, ever since that year they did “Get Lucky” before it was even released. It was the band after intermission that succeeded in giving us a cathartic release from stress with their excellent rendition of “Fuck You”. Everyone was extremely pleased to hear this song with its original intentions. However, I feel this band unfortunately loses points for going with Band Night staple “Proud Mary”, though their rendition of this song was at least decent. Their mash up of “Staying Alive” and “Hot in Here” caused some members of the audience to start stripping.

Burton and Garran
Position: Second
Katherine’s Rating: 8.5/10
Honourable Mention: Most Likely to Excel whilst Livin’ on a Prayer

I have to admit I actually didn’t know a lot of songs in the B&G set. They played well, I actually couldn’t fault them. In my opinion I thought B&G should have won, they had an energy that I felt was lacking from the Burgmann performance. Their final song “Livin’ on a Prayer” got more crowd enthusiasm than any of the previous final songs. Out of all the sets this one seemed to be the most cohesive with the audience non-stop dancing throughout the entire set.

Ursula
Position: Bottom Four
Katherine’s Rating: 6.5/10
Honourable Mention: Best Use of Euphonium I Have Seen at Band Night

Ursula had a euphonium; considering that word comes from the Ancient Greek for well-sounding, I had high hopes. After spending two minutes arguing with myself whether they were covering the Soft Cell cover of the Gloria Jones original ‘Tainted Love’, or if they had attempted to cover the original Jones soul version, or if they had just Benny Goodman-ed the Soft Cell version, it is safe to say their “Tainted Love” was bopping. Their slow song “Sunday Morning” was likewise well received. However, it can be said their “Hey Ya” fell flatter than a Polaroid picture.

Griffin
Position: Tied Third
Katherine’s Rating: 7.5/10
Honourable Mention: Best Mash Up of Any of the Colleges

Given the last position to play for the evening, Griffin really got the crowd to the final stretch. At this point many people were drunk and so enthusiasm was low, but when Griffin did what I consider the best mash up of the evening, of “Beat It”, “Get Lucky” and “Superstition”. The crowd went into a frenzy. The Griffin band was the smallest of all the bands and this worked in their favour. It meant nothing was too complicated, it was easy to hear everything, and it worked well. Plus they played “Are You Going to be My Girl”, a song that made me answer yes.

Katherine Prouting is a resident of Bruce Hall and hosts ‘The Vinyl Hour’ every Saturday 5pm on 2XX FM (98.3FM)