This year’s Battle of the Bands was one for the books. With a great turnout and a killer setlist of student performers, Binghamton University students experienced a night they won’t soon forget.

Battle of the Bands took place at the Undergrounds on Thursday, March 9 — organized by BU’s Student Association Programming Board (SAPB) and Binghamton Underground Music Presents (BUMP). All student musicians taking part in the competition were vying for a chance to perform at this year’s Spring Fling, and they did not disappoint.

A total of 11 student performers were featured at this year’s Battle of the Bands, including a mix of independent singers and bands — ranging from rock to indie, and even DJs. Each performance was given roughly 15 to 20 minutes to perform their sets. All 11 performances were jam-packed with a myriad of original songs — from covers to mixes — and the crowd enjoyed every single one of them, with the room filled to capacity with excited audience members.

Angela Chen, an undeclared sophomore, gushed about how much she enjoyed the event and the variety of performances.

“Every band did an amazing job,” Chen said. “The energy was insane!”

Starting the night, the band Husband Material played a set compromised of iconic covers — from Rihanna’s “Umbrella” to Carrie Underwood’s “Before He Cheats” — to the absolute delight of the crowd.

The bands 80% and Happy to Be Here were huge fan favorites. 80% performed a mixture of covers, including its original song “Rat on a Thursday,” which was a huge success among students — eliciting chuckles and whoops from the crowd. Happy to Be Here performed a killer set of songs, including a funk song that took the crowd by surprise with the killer vocals and energy, as well as the mixture of bass and drums playing in the background.

The first of the three DJs performing that night was NICO. NICO performed a mix of songs that briefly transformed the room into a club for his set, and Dylanborghini’s set included a mix of rap songs that had the whole crowd dancing, including Soulja Boy’s song “Crank That” and Kelis’ “Milkshake.”

AKONG took the crowd back to their childhoods, turning many old favorites — such as old-school Rihanna songs to Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin” — into pumped-up remixes that had the crowd dancing.

Eginhard Jean-Philippe performed a set of original songs that had the crowd singing and dancing for the nearly 20 minutes that they were on stage.

Limby and From the Bronx were definite crowd favorites, with students in the audience holding up makeshift signs made from cardboard boxes — and notes on their phones — to showcase their appreciation for the musicians. Limby performed a set of hardcore rock songs that had the crowd jumping for nearly twenty minutes. From the Bronx performed a set of songs that ranged from jazz to soft rock, and the crowd danced and screamed for their whole set.

Ending the night with the last two performances, Dreamboy DZY and BUG performed energetically and to their fullest potential despite the late hour. Dreamboy DZY rapped the night away, performing a set of original songs that had the crowd singing along. Last but certainly not least, BUG’s setlist was a mix of original songs and covers that showcased the lead singer’s stunning vocals, accompanied by a strong bass in the background. They ended the night with a bang with their rendition of ABBA’s “Dancing Queen,” which had the whole crowd scream-singing the lyrics.

Noah Delafuente, a junior majoring in psychology, had many positive things to say about the event.

“This was the most fun open-door event that I had been to in the last two years at being at [BU],” Delafuente said. “Overall I think the event shone because of 80% and From the Bronx.”

From the Bronx was the most energetic performance of the night, and it showed, as the room was filled to the brim with students chanting “From the Bronx!” over and over again, even once their set ended.

By the end of the night, the crowd was pleased to hear that From the Bronx had won the spot to perform at this year’s Spring Fling. Fans of the band can see From the Bronx open for the yet-to-be-announced headliner at SAPB’s biggest event in several weeks.