Words and photos by Nancy Kiner
On November 8, Radio stations from Georgetown, American, and George Washington came together to put on Battle of The Bands in Square 80 on GW’s campus. Bands from all three universities came to represent: Argo and the Violet Queens from American University, Georgetown University with Jam! And finally, the GW fan favorite, Palisades. Argo and the Violet Queens brought an eccentric sound featuring horn instruments and a very excited lead singer. They introduced the energy for the night, a funky groove fell over the crowd and it continued to build with Jam!. The long curly hair and cut off t-shirt of the lead singer matched the chiller atmosphere as the group began to play covers of songs that got the crowd singing. The six-piece group swayed in unison as they began to settle into the rhythm of their set. But it was Palisades,the final act of the night, who flipped the energy of the function on its head. Palisades came onto the stage to close out the night and as soon as Naveen Ramamurthy, the frontman began pacing the stage, it became apparent that the spirit of the night was going to change.
The traditional way to begin a Palisades set is to start by screaming into the mic, which is exactly what Naveen did. Devin Cox, the guitarist for the group, matched Naveen’s energy and began headbanging. By the first minute of the first song, every member of the band was jumping and the energy melted off of the stage into the astroturf as the crowd began to match the bands movements.
The night had reached its peak with Naveen on his back screaming into his mic like an iconic punk rock-star. Following last year’s win from Baltimore Avenue, a band hailing from WMUC (Maryland), the D.C schools had something to prove which was apparent in the dominating performance from Palisades that led to their victory at the end of the night.
