After last week’s second Road to Roo 2017 preliminary round, the bracket-style battle of the bands contest enters the semifinals tonight, March 14 with a first round at The Basement East (and concludes with the second half of the semifinals March 23 at 3rd & Lindsley). Of the eight remaining bands from the initial 16, four were chosen at random to compete this week and next, and two winners from each semifinal round will advance to the finals on March 28. Tonight will feature Omega Swan, Creature Comfort, The Middle Ground, and Daniel Donato, while next week Forest Fire Gospel Choir, Kid Feud, The Bumbs, and Lydia Brittan compete for a spot. This evening’s event is totally free, 21+, and begins at 7 p.m., and you must be present before 9 p.m. in order to have a chance to cast your vote. You can read more about the contest below, and preview tonight’s lineup after the jump.
Spread out across town, the Road to Roo, different from the single-location “Road to Bonnaroo” that took place at Mercy Lounge until 2015, is more of a bracket-style series, and results in one single, state-wide winner, selected over the course of several weeks. For a refresher, here’s a detailed rundown: Both March 1 and March 8, eight locals bands were selected to compete in random order, playing short preliminary round sets for an audience who then vote to select four from each show (or eight total) to advance to the semifinals. The semifinals are March 14 at The Basement East and March 23 at 3rd & Lindsley, and four bands from each preliminary round will compete, performing slightly longer sets, in random order (meaning some from each show are likely to be matched up). Two bands from each semifinal round, so four total, will be selected by vote to advance to the City Finals, which will be held at The Basement East on March 28. In the City Finals, the four bands will be given an even longer set time, and one winner will be selected. Surely that’s the end, right? Nope! One final final round, the Tennessee State Finals, will take place April 5 at Acme Feed & Seed, where Nashville’s winner will compete against a winner from Memphis (who, presumably, had to battle their way though a similar process), and one of those two acts will be crowned supreme victor, finally awarded a spot at Bonnaroo 2017.
OMEGA SWAN
CREATURE COMFORT
THE MIDDLE GROUND
DANIEL DONATO
The Road to Roo’s first semifinal round will take place tonight, March 14 at The Basement East. The show is 21+, begins at 7 p.m. (voting ends at 9 p.m.), and it’s FREE.
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