The traditional Veishea Battle of the Bands made its return with ideal weather and a huge turnout of listeners. Fifteen local acts made 20-minute bids for Veishea glory, followed by an adrenaline-infused headline performance by nationally touring duo Local H. Cedar Rapids alternative rockers All But Screaming took top honors, earning the privilege to open for Stroke 9 at Saturday night’s Live @ VEISHEA.

Onlookers dispersed strategically around the stage area. Energetic participants packed the stagefront, occasionally erupting into the human froth of a mosh pit, while more passive observers grouped in clusters reaching to the north steps of the Memorial Union.

Many spectators rotated between the constant stream of music and other Veishea events. Sound technician, and member of competing band If Ever Was A Fire, Peter Eggebraaten said he didn’t mind playing to an audience with more than music on their minds.

“If they even give us the time of day to listen to one of our songs, you’ve got to thank them for it,” Eggebraaten said.

Joshua Riley, junior in electrical engineering, traveled from an internship in Nebraska to enjoy Veishea. Riley said he celebrated both on and off campus, but participating in a mosh pit on Central Campus during the Local H set was a memorable highlight.

“It made it a little bit more interesting than doing it off campus,” Riley said. “The novelty of doing it on campus was pretty cool.”

The show drew a diverse crowd to Central Campus, momentarily fusing the worlds of audiophile students and visitors with casual onlookers, alumni and Ames community members.

“I love that [the Battle of the Bands] is back on campus,” said Ames resident Sally Elbert. “We have a beautiful campus and it is great that we are seeing [it].”

Although she won’t be listening to the music she heard at the Battle of the Bands in her home any time soon, Elbert said sampling the college flavor is an important part of coming on campus to celebrate Veishea.

“It’s kind of fun to reminisce,” Elbert said. “We were just talking about when we were actually that age, listening to what different kinds of music we were listening to.”

Taking the music home is one thing, but the infectious energy of back-to-back performances was a good enough reason for at least mild rocking out.

“The energy level here is just really high, you get caught up with the energy level in the music,” said Ames resident Gus Mohs. “It kind of takes over and you just enjoy the feeling of it, relax and let go.”

A broad variety of styles catered to almost every musical preference.

Heavy metal and punk shared the stage with lighter fare, keeping some demographic of the crowd engaged at all times.

Des Moines-based group Snafu earned one of the night’s encores from the audience for its set. Vocalist and guitarist Andy Anderson said his band was relieved get a strong crowd reaction after the heavier acts that preceded them.

“After you had these [heavier] bands and people crowd surfing and mosh-pitting you think, ‘We’ve got a piano, what are we going to do?'” Anderson said.

Before the dust from the 15-round competition could settle, evening headliner Local H took command of the stage. The two-piece group played to an ecstatic audience, pausing briefly to incite the crowd and announce the night’s winners.

When the last screech of feedback was muted and the greatest battle associated with Veishea 2006 ended, the success of the show was apparent.

“The crowd at Battle of the Bands seemed bigger than the crowd on Central Campus on Saturday night,” Riley said.