97X-Posure: Can All This Bitching Be A Good Thing?

Electric Shock put on one helluva show at Rascals Live Friday Night, and came away with the Title for this round of 97X-Posure.  That puts them onstage at the Iwireless Center Tuesday Night to open the show before Lynch Mob and Heart.

It's great for Electric Shock, long-time local musicians who've put in the work, the long nights, the road gigs required to build a good fan base and most importantly, the stage chops that had them edging out the other 3 finalists, Condor And Jaybird, Soldout War, and The Zealots.

The judges had a tough job, as all 4 finalists won their spot in the finals by out-performing other local would-be's in semi-final rounds.  They came ready to leave it all out on the stage.  And if the crowd size, and reaction, were any indication, any of these bands would have done the QCA proud onstage before Lynch Mob and Heart on Tuesday. (Tickets still available at Ticketmaster.)

So why in this, the 5th round of 97X-Posure has there been so much chirping about bands playing original content, and the question raised about the integrity of playing your own compositions vs. playing someone else's compositions well?  That answer may never be known by those who don't want to hear the truth.  Electric Shock, The AC/DC Experience just plain out-played you for 30 minutes last Friday Night.  Could they do it again?  Maybe.  But on Friday Night, at Rascals Live, in front of a shoulder-to-shoulder crowd, they brought it.  I've seen them do it on other nights, but I kept my opinion to myself.  Truth is, Electric Shock convinced those judges they were ready for the Iwireless Center over the other bands in the house that night.  And with their decision, Round 5 of 97X-posure comes to a finale, thanks to the bands, the judges, Scott Mullen at the Iwireless Center, and all the fans, new and old, of the most recent bands to reach for something bigger.

The concept of 97X-Posure is a simple one for us here on the Quad Cities Home of Classic Rock.  Give the local shredders a little limelight, and a chance at a little more.  I've been in radio a long time, and in the 3 decades or so that I've been involved in local music scene(s), we've never had the opportunity for local bands to play onstage at the arena level in front of a Headline show.  In fact, the concept is so natural-feeling, you'd think it's been around forever.  But it hasn't.  Until Scott Mullen and the Iwireless Center allowed 97X to give bands a shot at a meaningful big-sound gig, the best we could ever do for a Battle of the Bands type event was some dollar-value studio time prize that more often than not went unused, and a bar-tab at the bar where you probably already had used it.

So I'm proud of the idea. 97X-Posure, when possible, has brought local fun, fans, and energy to some great shows at the Iwi.  And given a smaller spotlight to many others who didn't win the big show.  If you're in the line of people bitching about how playing covers is somehow a lesser style of playing, or less deserving of attention, then you haven't been to a Heart show in the last 30 years, where they routinely cover Led Zeppelin in encore.  And don't even get me started on where Led Zeppelin got half of their music.

Put your energy instead to trying out a new band, a different venue, or heck, maybe even a different style of music than you're normally accustomed.  You might find more positive things to say about our music scene.  Tearing down one band doesn't build up any band.