Ice Avenu, Photo Mother Murder Tree, Kickstart the Sun and Mindfire rocked at Zeke’s Saturday night during The Almost Halloween Showcase put on by Iowa State’s GENRE Music Club.

Spookulele MC Aspen Plfanz started the show off by playing her Ukulele to the song “Vampire.” Plfanz was a cheery Master of Ceremony, singing Halloween songs before introducing each band throughout the night.

After Plfanz’s introduction, Ice Avenu took the stage and the passion of the audience and other members of the GENRE club could be seen all around Zeke’s from the start.

Ice Avenu started their set with a love song called, “Goopy Chocolate Cake.” Their performance had a mix of fun and serious songs and debuted a new song entitled “Darling in Love”. This song began slowly, but grew wilder as the song progressed.

Next, Photo Mother Murder Tree cranked up the volume with an instrumental opening that led right into a cover of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, which had the audience dancing. Photo Mother Murder Tree performed a mix of styles from grunge all the way to country western.

After that Plfanz sang “Purple People Eaters” and strongly encouraged audience participation before she introduced Kickstart the Sun.

Kickstart the Sun were dressed up as hipster versions of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. They wore green shirts and multi colored bandannas and brought a wild, active performing style to the stage at Zeke’s.

Their performance included jumping, running all over and their bass player entering the audience and singing along with the crowd.

Kickstart the Sun played many originals and a very memorable cover of the Vance Joy song “Riptide” played at a faster tempo compared to the original, gaining speed towards the end.

With the end of the concert nearing, a pumpkin judging contest went on.

Plfanz introduced each of the five pumpkins as they were raised up, adding that the losing pumpkins would be destroyed at the end of the show. The Batman-themed Pumpkin No. 4 was proclaimed the victor by the audience’s cheers.

Finally, Mindfire closed off with some of the loudest rock music heard all night. They interacted with the crowd, playing instruments as close to the audience as they could.

They also encouraged everyone to dance, jump and even come on stage if they chose to.

The Almost Halloween Showcase was a big success for the GENRE club, bringing in a passionate audience that didn’t want the night to end. All of the bands knew how to put on a great show, and give the crowd a unique concert experience.