Local bands rocked while onlookers shivered Saturday, all in an attempt to be named the best in ExTRAvaganza’s Battle of the Bands.

First place winners Kountertop left pocketing $300, while second and third place winners 8 Miles Out and For the Better, walked away with prizes of $250 and $200, respectively.

The event started around 5 p.m. with a performance from Pyrocracker. With pop-punk-metal sounds and the hairstyles to match, Pyrocracker made their case for best band with songs like “Gynecology.”

Next up, 8 Miles Out tried to warm up the frozen hearts of the wind-blown audience with a run through their standard set.

When guitarist Pat Boberg’s guitar strap fell off his guitar, bassist Chris Saldanha ran across the stage to help him out.

“Teamwork, that’s what it’s all about kids,” he said on his return to the stage right microphone.

The duo of Saldanha and Boberg traded quips as well as lead vocal duties, at times making the audience almost forget drummer Alex Miller was onstage as well.

The group brought out old favorites as well as some of their newer material, including “Blues and Greens,” a song Boberg called “the official prom song of 2002.”

Third in line were the Horseshoe Spatulas, a group that called their special sound “post-new-wave-punk-apocalyptic-experimental rock.” The band definitely tried to fit that category, as their songs had more to do with Primus than Green Day or Blink-182, bands that seemed very influential in the sounds of the first two sets.

With songs discussing elevator operators, Neil Diamond and nuclear winter, the Horseshoe Spatulas proved to be one of the more interesting groups of the night.

Kountertop’s set showcased a sound somewhat removed from their performance a year ago in the VEISHEA battle. The space-blues lead playing gave the band an edge that eventually led them into first place. The group proved to have the most polished sound as their set went off with incident.

Finally, For the Better’s three vocalists commanded the stage for the last performance of the night. The final songs of their set changed when the lyrical themes centered more on “the love of our Father” than puppy-love, a central subject in their first few numbers. The band performed tightly, almost as if they were previously a part of another religious musical group.

The size of the audience rose and fell with each performance. Only a few braved the bitingly cold breezes to experience the whole competition.

The wind also made things difficult for those responsible for putting on the show when it blew over a light tower in the middle of Pyrocracker’s set. Those on stage ducked as everyone in the audience applauded when the silver tower toppled.

Practically every band brought a cover to their show, the highlight being Pyrocracker’s drummer singing an aggressive version of Enrique Iglesias’ “Escape.”

8 Miles Out tried to start a sing-along with their popular cover of “Somewhere Out There” from “An American Tale.” Saldanha tried to convince the audience to help out when he jokingly said, “You should know the words. If you don’t, I hate you.”