I’m With The Band V2.0 Finals
Hot Time, Summer In The City was exactly the scene at TNT’s last Thursday night where the 89X I’m With The Band Version 2.0 finally crowned the $10,000 winner after nearly 6 months of competition. Over 90 local bands rocked the house during the 16 weeks of preliminary rounds covering every genre imaginable along the way. As predicted, the finals were a huge success that saw TNT’s bulging from the throngs of fans packed into the transformed “sauna” for the deciding night featuring Band With No Name, Lithium, Lies Unknown, Herd, & Ghosts of August. Tonight’s crowd busting show was all about rock & roll which not only blew off the roof but also featured crowd surfing, straight jackets, a naughty nurse, an 89X live broadcast, even a bus! TNT’s didn’t hold back for this event either, bringing in a stage full of “real” lights that gave it an actual concert feel while bringing in a fresh “power pack” for the evening to top it all off with a mega dosage of pure crisp sound! We can only hope that TNT’s will see this as a major improvement overall for the quality of shows played out inside their rock room and move towards securing these features as a permanent addition! From the onset, it was apparent that tonight was a special night, arriving just in time for the closing of TNT’s parking lot which sent us scurrying down Harper Ave looking for that elusive parking spot, and it was still an hour before the start of the show! We did predict standing room only out to the parking lot, and no doubt that is what we got tonight, as the line to get in reached well into the closed lot. Upon entering TNT’s our predictions of an “oversold” capacity crowd were instantly confirmed, having to slither sideways to move anywhere inside the bar. Dr2 has been to quite a number of “sold-out” events at this eastside venue, but never have we seen this many rabid fans on the loose inside TNT’s at one time! Won’t make any estimates here (OK we have it on good word now that it indeed was close to 1,000) but it’s safe to say that each band brought along a couple hundred of their closest friends to the party!
Luckily for us though we arrived just as the opening band, who hails from Houghton Lake, MI, Herd was taking the stage. Winners of week 7, Herd was named a “wild card” entry by finishing 2nd in the super close semi-final #2 right behind winners Lithium. These guys not only travel great distances to play out shows, but they load up what they refer to as “The Herd Bus” with as many of their fans they can fit! Looking as if they brought along a few busloads, Herd hit the stage running and never looked back, 
bringing the house down with an all out assault on the D! Amazing, as these guys may have finished 3rd in the online voting, but believe me every single one of their 200+ votes were in the house tonight, damn near looked like a mini “warped” tour! Blazing riffs and huge bass lines are what this 5 pc, which happens to tout 4 brothers in the group, is all about, preferring the hard back beats over any slow grooves which was apparent during the set ending unveiling of their recently recorded “Full”, sending lead vocalist Jeremiah Cooley into the crowd for the first surf of the night! No official release of the final results were available for these finals, but it’s safe to say that they finished in a close tie for 2nd! Dr2 thinks these guys rock with the best of them so go on and check them out over on our MySpace “Top Friends”, you won’t regret it!
This next band up has got to be proud as hell with what transpired during the day of the finals that saw them land unexpectedly in the championship at the last moment. With news of the third semi-final winner Facture having to dropout due to the emergency hospitalization of one of their members, it was Lies Unknown who received a phone call around noon time that indeed it would be them replacing Facture for the night’s finale. With 8 hours to go before the doors opened, it was this young eastside group who, being named as 1st alternate, stood up to the challenge, even proclaiming early on they didn’t expect to win, and actually brought in quite a large crowd for themselves! In fact in this crazy turn of events, not even having the opportunity in the “On-Line” vote, they pulled it together and it actually looked like they beat out one of the semi final “winners” at the door, truly a sign of a band with a following! A power pop outfit, these guys are definitely the epitome of what is played on 89X these days, and have the live show & stage presence to back it up! Again, Dr2 “unofficially” puts them in a close tie for 2nd! Check them out in our “Top Friends”, as they’ve recently caught fire and are playing all over town!
Lithium. Go ahead, say it again, Lithium. If there was ever a need for this “mood controlling” drug…errr Band, than tonight was the night as the intense heat inside TNT’s had everyone a little “stir-crazy” including their drummer, Patrick Vadnais, who arrived donning a “Straight Jacket” presumably via ambulance from the local asylum! No doubt about these guys being everyone’s favorite heavy metal rock & roll band, all ya had to do was look around, it was Lithium everywhere! Lithium not only 
won tonight’s “door vote”, filling TNT’s from the stage pit to the mid point of the Herdlings, but from what we saw, damn near pulled off a sweep of the night’s voting rounds! One of the hardest working frontmen around, Pauly had the crowd eating from his hands as they say, leaving his face dripping with blood! Winning week 5 & that ultra close semi-final #2, Lithium new what they needed to do to win, pounding TNT’s with several of their bone crushing anthems, even deciding to throw a couple covers in including an awesome rendition of Idol’s White Wedding done Lithium style! Lithium’s best performance again, seemingly every time I catch this crew, they just appear to take another step forward! Close here, but at this point of the night, Lithium was the one to beat! Check’em out, again you’ll find them in our “Top Friends”, or check in the Dr2 Links right here!
Band With No Name has had the absolute longest run in this contest than any other left standing, winning week 1 then moving to the finals by rampaging through the 1st semi-final, over a full 22 weeks! Finishing 2nd in the “online voting” BWNN always looks comfortable doing the “big show”, rising to the occasion time & time again. Jeff Gutt (vox), himself no stranger to 
large crowds, having spent his time in front of tens of thousands of fans at one point, always delivers an “A” game and tonight just blew us away! Having honed their set to perfection comes as no surprise to us here at Dr2, torching TNT’s with their hits It’s Alright, It’s Over, Criminal and the shock and awe of the mammoth mosh pit instigator Animalike! Quite possibly the “Performance Highlight” of the night came during Animalike as the stage pit transformed into a major sea of bodies swaying, then moshing along enticing Gutt to “Dive” onto the crowd, surfing across the front pit and back onto the stage! After all Dr2 has witnessed over these past 21 weeks, this to us was THE performance of the night if not the entire competition, and by all accounts became the one’s to beat. If you haven’t seen BWNN yet, then go check these guys out yourself, you can find them in our “Top Friends”, or at the Dr2 Links.
Self proclaimed “headliners” tonight, Ghost Of August, winners of week 16 & the fourth semi-final, took the stage last tonight, earning the top spot by winning the “on-line” vote segment during the finals, receiving 10% of the total points needed to win the event tonight, so in essence were the front runners heading into the finale. With nearly 1,400 votes cast in their name over 7 days, Dr2 was expecting a large crowd for these Metal Heads, but instead were amazed at the lack of fans who were apparently unwilling to shell out $10 each to show their support, failing to even fill the pit in front of the stage. And this was the finals, where there is no tomorrow! Not sure why it has been this way, but it would seem that the bands who win the online vote with extraordinary numbers, fail to bring in the crowd each and every time! Door numbers didn’t matter much here though, with 10% of the total points needed in their back pocket, all GOA had to do was annihilate the competition on stage to win the performance vote and the $10,000 & 5 Song EP was all theirs. Not a bad set from the Ghosts, but it was apparent that tonight wouldn’t be their night, failing to light any fires under the crowd that was had gathered to watch the final act of the night. You can check them out by locating them in our “Top Friends” over at the Dr2 MySpace page.
So it was now the moment of truth, whose performance would the judges pick? Who would get to their name on the check? With the point total breakdown being 10% online vote, 40% door vote, & 50% performance vote, there was nothing certain about who would be the victors tonight! After a quick huddle, 89X’s Jay Hudson & Cal Cagno appeared on stage, joined by the owners of TNT’s & Metro Recordings Studio who possessed a larger than life check, to announce the winner of I’m With The Band V2.0. After a few brief acknowledgments & thank yous to all the participates, the drums rolled and Band With No Name was declared the winner, their fans and themselves all erupting as the celebration began. A well deserved victory for these guys who not only had the best performance of the night, but have done so each time they took the stage throughout the competition. 
Dr2 doesn’t believe there were any losers here tonight, all having drawn some big crowds, and were given the chance to perform in front of a rather huge crowd, showcasing themselves in front of people who they may never of had a chance to before. Hopefully all the bands, not just the finalist, but each and every band who got on stage have at the very least picked up a few extra fans, acquired a bit more confidence, and gained a lifetime of stories to share from their moments on stage during the I’m With The Band V2.0 contest. For all the photos from tonight's finale, jump on over to the Dr2 Gallery, you'll find it in the left hand column! And don’t forget, only 6 more months before I’m With The Band V3.0 comes roaring back to TNT’s to do it all again! Remember Detroit Rock Review, The Only Place For Local Music News & Reviews. Support Local Music by buying your favorite local artist’s music while you still can!