After a grueling and hours-long deliberation, including a thorough review of thirty-six 2013 judging forms and numerous calculations and considerations, we have our Wildcard Band for this year! It was not an easy decision to make. In many ways, it's much harder to be selected as the Wildcard as each band is competing against seven other bands as opposed to only the two or three they battled on their Friday night.

So, without further ado, a huge "congratulations" goes to...

Semi-Finals, July 4:

1. JKZ (Winner – Friday, June 7 Battle)
2. Sam Poll (Winner – Friday, June 14 Battle)
3. The Ska-lers (Winner – Friday, June 21 Battle)
4. Midnight in Montana (Winner – Friday, June 28 Battle)
5. Van Buren & Wells (Wildcard Band from Friday, June 21 Battle)

Please note: Bands are not listed in performance order; that will be determined prior to the 4th of July and emailed to the bands. Also, one drum kit will be used by all bands on the 4th to facilitate fast turnaround between bands. Bitter Jester will put the five drummers in touch with each other prior to the 4th.

Standby Band:

We have also chosen an official Standby Band. The Standby Band will be notified should any of the five bands slated to play on the 4th be unable to attend.

1. Fruitful Dave

On behalf of the City of Highland Park and Bitter Jester Creative, a huge thank you to to ALL our bands this year for their hard work and participation! This was an awesome festival of music and the 4th of July Semi-Finals and Finals are going to be great!

Friday Night Battle, June 28:

1. Circus Freaks (Lake Forest HS)
2. Feedback (Deerfield HS)
3. Midnight in Montana (Highland Park HS) ***WINNER*** – Midnight in Montana was the 2012 Grand Champion Band!
4. The Whom (New Trier HS & Glenbrook South HS)

Friday Night Battle, June 21:

1. The Ska-lers (Stevenson HS) ***WINNER*** – The Ska-Lers were the Wild Card Band in 2012!
2. The Top Brass (Deerfield HS)
3. Van Buren & Wells (Stevenson HS) **WILDCARD**

Friday Night Battle, June 14:

1. Fruitful Dave (New Trier HS, Evanston Township HS, & Niles West HS)
2. Sam Poll (Highland Park HS) ***WINNER***
3. Xazz Quintet (Highland Park HS)

Friday Night Battle, June 7:

1. 50 Below (Lake Forest HS) *WITHDREW*
2. Chompin Choosker's Chump Daddy (Highland Park HS)
3. JKZ (Highland Park HS) ***WINNER*** – JKZ was the 2011 Grand Champion Band & the 2012 Runner-Up Band!