The Morris Recreation Center hosted a “Rock Band 2” tournament, part of the “Rockstar Challenge” on Wednesday, Feb. 17.
The event ran concurrently with a rock climbing event and a roshambo, better known as rock-paper scissors, tournament.
Nine teams entered the tournament, competing for the first place prize of t-shirts for all band members.
The greek community was well represented, with over half the teams comprised of members of the Sigma Chi, Delta Tau Delta, Kappa Delta and Kappa Sigma fraternities, as well as two teams from the Alpha Phi sorority, all competing for greek points in a separately scored greek-only bracket.
Each team had a single attempt at one song, with the team’s final score recorded at the song’s end.
The team competition score was determined by dividing the total score by the number of entrants in the band.
The competition got off to a rocky start, as the equipment was not properly calibrated for the television, a fact that was quickly discovered when contestants were taking advantage of their allowed “warm-up song.”
After several disastrous trial runs, the students took it upon themselves to run the full calibration program for all instruments.
After the technical glitches were resolved, the tournament itself began.
The Sigma Chi team, the “Justice League,” lead off, playing Kansas’ “Carry on Wayward Son.” The crowd was energized by the performance, at least until the team failed to make it to the second verse of the song.
The Delta Tau Delta team was next, playing the Lit’s “My Own Worst Enemy.” There was some debate between the team members which song to play, but the team, feeling this was the song they could score the highest, forged ahead. They scored a respectable 287,004 total points.
Next were the “Super Gods.” Featuring Andrew Dahir on bass, Victoria Walters on vocals, and Jay Jaska, looking every bit the part of a 21st century Joey Ramone, on guitar.
Playing the Foo Fighters’ “Everlong,” the band of three floored the crowd with a near-flawless performance and an incredible 780,348 points.
The next few teams could not compete with the Super Gods stunning performance. Team “Alpha Phi 1” parlayed Paramore’s “That’s What You Get” into 247,780 points, while Lacuna Coil and the song “Our Truth” led the “T-Rack Squad” to 378,493 points.
Team “K-Sig 2” brought the second impressive performance of the evening. Rocking Disturbed’s “Down With the Sickness” to 422,647 points, the team vaulted solidly into second place, and in the lead of the greek-only bracket.
Team “A-Phi 2,” who were “Rock Band” novices, struggled through Jimmy Eat World’s “The Middle” to 55,439 hard-earned points.
Confusion and disarray doomed “K-Sig 1″‘s turn from the start. Members of the band were pushing the team to attempt Rage Against the Machine’s “Testify,” even though the team’s guitarist had never played the track before. He eventually relented, and, predictably, the team failed the song.
The last team to play was the team “Riding the Unicorn.” In selecting Fleetwood Mac’s “Go Your Own Way,” the team exposed a fatal flaw in the tournament structure: longer songs with more notes were worth more points, so the song, which features an extended fade with multiple guitar solos, was a goldmine of potential scoring.
The team, clearly skilled players, gave the “Super Gods” plenty to worry about. In particular, “Gods” vocalist Walters appeared visibly nervous as the band tore through the song.
In the end, it was all for naught, as Team Unicorn managed only 452,324 points, good for second place, but not enough to unseat the Gods of Rock Band.
The team basked in the victory, knowing if they weren’t rock stars, they at least got to play them on television.