It's official: The side stage at this year's Movin' On concert will feature big rock, big beasts and big beats.

Twelve bands, each containing at least one Penn State student, brought blood, sweat and tunes to HUB Alumni Hall Saturday night for Movin' On 2005's Battle of the Bands. This year's second stage will feature rock group Tokyo Vertigo, pop-rock band Dragon Slayer and returning rap artist Audio Imagery (rock, beasts and beats, respectively). A panel of judges from various local radio and print media outlets voted on who would win a coveted spot in the annual daylong concert's schedule.

"I guarantee you that Movin' On is gonna rock this year," Movin' On Director Aaron Anthony said to a moderately full crowd of early birds just before jam band Judo Mattress kicked things off around 9:45 p.m.

The evening's opening band provided solid solos and extended musical excursions that went well beyond the typical three-minute pop song. Unfortunately, "crowd participation" was a major part of each band's score, and the Late Night HUB-ers just weren't very expressive until later in the night.

Fellow funksters Elwyn had a bit of a more enthused crowd six bands later. The band's groovy, Dave Matthews sound was pleasing, but not as impressively quirky as the fact that, at one point, its two guitarists played each others' instruments behind their backs.

It was bands like Modzilla, The MonoDrops and Johnny Action Figure, however, that really seemed to define what comes to mind when one pictures a traditional "Battle of the Bands." With shaggy haircuts, Marshall Half Stack guitar amps and power chords, these bands rocked the coming-and-going crowd.

Dragon Slayer heightened that rock sound with catchy tunes and tight, concise pop songs, surprising many attendees by not being the expected cheesy hair metal band. Lead singer and guitarist John Taylor (senior-integrative arts) said the group's longer set at Movin' On will feature a bit more variety.

"We'll spread it out more," he said. "It won't be all in your face. We'll mix it up for sure and we'll definitely be well-prepared."

Not that there wasn't any variety. Jimi Jive had an amusing, authentic, '60s surf-rock sound, complete with heavy reverb, crowd interaction and even a The Price is Right theme song tease.

Audio Imagery filled the stage with its nine-person crew before filling the auditorium with hip hop and shout-along choruses. As the last band of the evening, Audio Imagery had a tough job rallying the remaining concertgoers, but emcee Jason Browne (senior-mechanical engineering) tried his hardest. "Get out of your seats," he said while his band built up a musical frenzy. "You all came to see a show, right?"

The bands that most effectively got the fans out of their seats were those that brought out a receptive group of followers, and Tokyo Vertigo did just that. When they weren't surprisingly singing along to the band's songs, the audience roared in appreciation of its double guitar riffs, headbanging stage presence and singer John Marsh's (senior-journalism) huge vocals.

"I've been wanting to do this since I was 17," Marsh said after his band was announced as one of the winners. "I was [at Movin' On] a few years ago, and I told my friend at the time, 'Someday, I'm gonna be on that stage.' "

For a battle, however, the aftermath of Saturday's show left very little smoke and no hard feelings.

"There was so much talent here tonight," Tokyo Vertigo guitarist Brett Gildersleeve (senior-electrical engineering) said. "Every band, in their own way, was really good at what they did."