We had a packed house on July 14 at Queens College’s Colden Auditorium for our 2nd Annual Battle of the Bands!

“These bands represent the best of the best,” said Queens Library President and CEO Dennis Walcott at the start of our show. “We’re going to have a great competition.”

Our contestants put on a wonderful show for our excited audience. In between sets, our host, Queens Library Hip Hop Coordinator Ralph McDaniels, tried to stump people in the crowd with musical trivia. The lucky winners from the audience received their own commemorative t-shirt!

All the bands did a fantastic job, and soon it was time for our judges to choose the winners:

• Our third-place winners, Global Warming, may still be in high school, but they definitely have the talent to hang with the pros. Their cover of Adele’s “Hello” was a standout performance.
• Noni Rene and The Village received second place honors. Noni let the audience know that even though she’s originally from Philly, she was excited to play in front of her new hometown crowd in Queens. And the crowd definitely enjoyed their funk rock sound.
• Our grand prize winners were Chiv Culture, whose "head-nod" jazz and hip hop rhymes made the audience clap in unison to songs like “Epiphany” and their hit “Cupid.” “I feel outstanding,” said frontman Akinyemi as the band accepted their award and thanked everyone from the judges to their fans.

You can learn more about the winning bands and the rest of our contestants by reading our band profiles.

You can also see live videos from the Battle of the Bands (including the announcement of our winners) by visiting our Facebook page and using the hashtag #QLrocks2016.

Thank you to everyone who joined us and to all this year’s musicians. You truly rock!

Photos: first-place winners Chiv Culture (top); second-place winners Noni Rene and The Village (left) and third-place winners Global Warming (right).