Written by Robbie Ferguson, on June 05, 2010

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I had the privilege of being asked to be a guest judge for the fifth year at Battle of the Bands.  It's a big show for Christian startup bands to get their break.  This year, not only did the top three get studio time, but the winner also got sent to Kingdom Bound (a big opportunity for any Christian band).

It was so nice to see so many awesome people.  I got to catch up with my old friend Jody Cross (multiple CGMA winner & Juno nominated artist) after about 4 years, got to see Hillary, and had a really nice chat with Carrie, who starts her new job as a full-time nurse in 10 days!

I also got to see my friend and former employer, Scott Jackson, who owns LIFE 100.3 radio where Christy Burton and I both worked (many years ago).

The bands were really talented again this year, and it's always a challenge to say who wins.  Our second and third place winners were tied by averages, but there was about a 1.6 point difference out of a possible 300 points between the two; that's how close it was.

One of the fun things that was done differently this year was that we had an "American Idol" judge feedback segment in between each set.  So while the next band was setting up, the judges were giving the American Idol style feedback to the band that just played.

We had five judges this year, and the event was absolutely flawless.  The team is fantastic, and what a well-oiled machine this event was.

The strangest thing about the event tonight was that, while I've been a judge every year for the past 5 years, this is the first event where people recognized me as "Robbie".  It's funny, because I've never really had too many local people recognize me from my show (as most of our viewers are from the USA or UK), so I found it interesting that many people knew who I was tonight.  I think it's all Hillary's fault (with her millions of friends and fans).

I brought my video camera with me, so I figured I'd shoot some clips.  Here is what I saw:

The Winners:

1. Brand New Endings
2. Without Surrender
3. Starship Harbour

Also Participating (Alphabetical):

• Behold! The City
• Forsake Not The Name
• Scream for His Encore
• The Found
• Unlikely Heroes

All of the bands did a fantastic job, and I encourage them all to keep at it!  Congratulations to the Battle of the Bands team on a smashing show, and here's to next year's event (which they've already started planning... no wonder it's so well organized!

Published in : Robbie's Blog, My Blog