The recent Battle of the Bands, hosted by WBMT and the Student Council, proved that towns truly can come together to produce something positive.

  Roughly five bands were from Masco, and the rest were from other towns in the North Shore, like Ipswich, Melrose, Danvers, and Newburyport. 

 A group of seniors in a band of Masco students, 4:30 Sunset, won the competition and a plaque. Seniors Sophie Doumas, Daniel Spofford, Raymond Lotspeich, and Andrew Bernheart were the band members. They played a cover of an Arctic Monkeys song for their performance.

 The expectations for this contest were high, but the audience was blown out of the water with these performances. Every band put on an electric performance.

  “I felt like the performances were a true testament to the amount of talent that we have in the North Shore,” said Chadwick. “And I was really amazed and blown away by the level of technical ability as well as stage presence that every single one of those bands brought with them on Friday.”

  With the success of this year’s event, it is likely that there will be another competition next year. There are a few concerns over whether or not it will happen.

  “I am really hoping there will be another one,” said station manager Maya Schildkraut. “With the uncertainty revolving around who will be the station advisor next year, I can’t guarantee another one but I will say, as long as I am the station manager, I will do everything in my power to make sure we have another, successful Battle of the Bands.”

   For many the height of the show may have been seeing someone they know play on stage. For the organizers, it was all about the reactions.

  “The highlight of the event for me was genuinely just how much everyone enjoyed it,” said Schildkraut. “The number of people who came up to me after the fact and told me how much they loved the Battle of the Bands made everything so worth it.”

  With the effect this had on the people who attended it and the success of the performances, there is no doubt that there is potential for this kind of event to be bigger and even better than it was this year.