Dear Diary,

The final night of the Graffiti Rock Challenge semifinals finished with a… Dear Diary,

The final night of the Graffiti Rock Challenge semifinals finished with a flurry as Flowdown, Tripshow, The Delaney’s and The Poverty Neck Hillbillies wrapped up in a rocking manner.

It was my third night of four judging the challenge, and this night ended up to be the most interesting of them all. The evening ended with strong debate between the judges as to what will happen next. But I’m getting ahead of myself and will now talk about the bands of the night.

The night kicked off with Flowdown taking the stage to a half-packed house that was slightly unenthused about their jam band style. The five-piece jam band featured a saxophone player and keyboards as well as the typical guitar, bass and drums. They followed the usual format for jam bands singing long, drawn-out songs, with extended jam breaks and repeated the same thing over and over – they were slightly monotonous.

Next up was an ’80s style rock band, Tripshow, who came out in a cheap ’80s pimp look. Their guitar player wore a suit with a white jacket and pink pants, and the lead singer had the cheap pimp look down pat, wearing an imitation fur coat, black hat and shades. Later he donned a gold robe and told the crowd the he “came to testify.” The band’s style and sound, sad to say, wouldn’t have been a huge hit even 15 years ago, but the crowd they brought seemed to love them.

The Delaneys were the third band, and they came to the stage to a large following of fans swinging white towels with the band’s name on them over their heads. The Delaneys were a young, fresh rock band, singing songs of breaking up and having fun. It was nice seeing a younger set on stage; the other bands of the night were slightly older. The Delaneys had all the enthusiasm and energy needed to rock and they showed it throughout their set.

The final band took the stage to a rousing roar from the audience complete with cowboy hats and boots. The Poverty Neck Hillbillies, a country band from Fayette County, reminded me of home. I live 20 minutes or so from the band’s origin and they brought a large following of fans from my area. The Hillbillies’ energetic stage presence is enhanced by a fiddle and guitar player who hopped around the stage; he was very good at what he did. The majority of the songs featured the fiddle and the crowd loved every minute of it. Their instrumental abilities were outstanding and it was nice seeing a band represent the country music scene in Pittsburgh.

The night ended on a good note and a surprising one as well. For only the second time in the 17-year history of the challenge, the first being a mathematical error, the night ended in a tie. This time there wasn’t an error in the math, the votes were counted and recounted and then checked again to make sure that there wasn’t a mistake.

Tripshow and the The Poverty Neck Hillbillies tied. The two bands will join the previous winners Luca Brazi, Science Fiction Idols and Brad Yoder Band, making the finals a night of five different styles and personalities.

The finals will be held at Rosebud Saturday, March 8. Doors open at 8:30 p.m. and the show starts at 9 p.m. If you want to see this one, I would suggest you get there early or you’ll be left out of the show.