Performances from the annual “Bunch of Bands” concert

Menlo took first place at East’s annual Battle of the Bands competition last night. In the last act of the evening, senior trio Adam Levin (vocals, guitar), Tim Shedor (bass) and David Beeder (drums) won over the crowd with a few original tracks and cover songs from Dave Matthews Band and Steely Dan. Click here to watch the performances of each band.

Letterhead surprised everyone by walking away with second place. The all-freshman underdog band, comprised of Gardner Grantham (Guitar), Max Braasch (Drums), Ian Harmon (Guitar), Chris Tucker (Keyboard) and Lily Kaufmann (Vocals), opened the night and covered famous rock songs from bands such as The Killers and Journey, while also performing an original.

Mr. Fish made their fourth successive appearance at East’s Battle of the Bands, this time placing third. The band, which won the event in 2008, features two East students – Nathan Goldman (guitar) and Kaevan Tavakolinia (bass). They performed five new, original songs, straying from their 2008 full-length debut “Soft Serve Assault,” which landed them much acclaim.

Two additional senior-laden bands also performed. Space Bear, comprised of Max McFarland (vocals, guitar), Duncan McHenry (bass), Matt Chalk (saxophone) and Rockhurst’s Cary McRoberts, played a full slate of entirely original music.

The penultimate performance came courtesy of an enthused Kept Mess. Joe Newman (guitar), Connor Creighton (bass) and Brian Rogers (drums) wailed for 20 minutes before Menlo finished things off in style.