The seven-week competition started Aug. 4 with eight regional Latin bands competing for a $5,000 cash prize to be awarded Sept. 15.
One of the bands in the competition. (Photo courtesy of Malkio Entertainment)
ATLANTIC CITY — Showboat Atlantic City is celebrating Latino music and culture with its first-ever Latin Battle of the Bands at Backstage Lounge.
The seven-week competition began Aug. 4 and includes eight regional bands competing in an elimination format for a $5,000 grand prize.
The bands competing include Banda Suprema, Randy Pagan, Chucky Santo, Grupo Sentimiento, Eddy Perez, Grupo Alcance, Arturo el Brillante and Jamin el Fuego de la Bachata.
Since the competition started, two bands square off each Thursday and are judged on such criteria as originality, sound, crowd participation, performance and stage presence.
The quarterfinals are this Thursday, Sept. 1, and the semifinals are the following Thursday, Sept. 8. The championship round will take place Sept. 15, and will be judged by a local radio host, a Latin-music concert promoter and a representative from Showboat Atlantic City.
The band deemed the winner will receive the grand prize at 1:45am.
DJ Bebo will be spinning starting 9pm the night of the championship, and the first band will go on from 11:30pm-12:15am. The second band will perform from 12:45-1:30am.
“Backstage has become a premier entertainment venue, having featured free concerts by big-named bands and talent such as the Gin Blossoms and Live’s Ed Kowalczyk,” says Jason Spencer, regional director of entertainment for Caesars Entertainment.
“Natural progression for a venue like Backstage brought us to the idea of hosting Atlantic City’s Battle of the Latin Bands … [and] judging by the response we had last Thursday, fans and onlookers aren’t shy about voicing their favorites, which is great because audience participation is one of the competition’s five categories.”
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Dubbed “Hard Rock Rising,” the A.C. Hard Rock has 12 bands/solo artists competing on four Friday nights, 9pm-1am, starting Feb. 24. Ultimately the field is whittled to three finalists worldwide, with the grand prize being an all-expense paid trip to London for the 7th annual Hard Rock Calling music festival July 13-15. The winning band/artist will be on the bill with this year’s headliner — Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.
“Showboat has always dared to be different, and the sheer spontaneity of the House of Blues casino is reflective in our overall success. It creates a party-pit atmosphere like no other.”
“This is the first show that I’ve been a part of that will blow our minds and reveal things that will explain almost all our questions."
(We don’t want to alarm you, but in the time you’ve been reading this, the stock market dropped 500 points ... Ok, it’s back up 350 points. Whoops, down again.)
Plans were in the works to try to get Scott-Heron to perform in Atlantic City this summer, for one of the city=sponsored concerts at Gardner's Basin. I also suggested to the organizers of the Dave Matthews Band Caravan festival coming to Atlantic City June 24-26, to reach out to Gil to have him as one of the dozens of artists on the bill.
Caesars Entertainment cautions fans that "since there isn’t a cover-charge, fans looking to view the concert from the comfort of Backstage’s plush couches are urged to come early, as reservations will not be accepted."
Lemmy: 'It kills me how bland this period is. You go backstage these days and you see 20 bottles of Perrier and a bag of nuts. What’s wrong with this fucking picture? Everything is so healthy today and it’s terrible. I don’t get it.'
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