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Hot Nights Out in Honolulu
Mai Tai Bar's Rumble Packs in the People
 The Battle of the Bands Rumble has been a happening for 10 years.
I t's one of Honolulu's biggest bar parties, fun and frenzied, loud and lively.
It's the rocking Rumble at the Mai Tai Bar in the Ala Moana Shopping Center and it's a happening that had been going on here for the past 10 years.
With beers in hand, the crowd cheers for their favorite band.
Comprised of eight events spread out over two months from the first of October to early December, it involves local musicians and DJs competing for recording studio time and some serious cash in a Battle of the Bands and Battle of the DJs.
The Rumble really makes the Mai Tai Bar rumble/
Four bands or DJs get 15 minutes to play or spin their best before judges and a spirited crowd (many of whom have a clear rooting interest in the outcome as friends or fans) in preliminary rounds. Each night's winner advances to the finals. The 2010 Battle of the Bands winners, one each in two categories, won $14,000 and $16,000, respectively. It would take a heck of a lot of gigs at local bars to equal that payment.
Breath of Fire plays its Hawaiian reggae music at the Rumble Finals.
It's been happening for 10 years, is free and open to the public and liquid inspiration comes in the form of $2.50 Budweisers and Bud Lights ($6 for a pitcher) and $3 Kona Longboard Lagers.
Like winter waves on the North Shore, the prelims build up to a pounding crescendo. the Finals. An MC with a voice so booming he really doesn't need that microphone pumps up the capacity crowd and introduces the acts and people crowd in format of - and behind from outside the bar - to sing, dance, cheer and party.
With beers as low as $2.50, Rumble is a big party at the Mai Tai Bar.
The biggest of all these events is the Battle of the Bands Final. For the 2010 event, in fact (held the Tuesday after Thanksgiving), the MI Tai Bar could not hold the crowd. People were stacked five and six deep in the mall's walkways around the bar. It was more crowded than Waikiki Beach on a sunny day.
Original sponsor Bud Light is looking to hold future events in the parking lot, which would create a mini-concert atmosphere. Which, of course, it pretty much is anyway.
The Battle of the Bands winners hold up their $16,000 check.
It's such a big deal that even the notoriously late-running locals are in place a half-hour before it even begins.
They know not to miss this party.
The Mai Tai Rumble runs from 9-midnight and has been such a success in Honolulu, it has spread to other locations in Long Beach and Daytona Beach on the Mainland.
Website: MaiTaiRumble.com
 Related Article: Honolulu Bar Guide
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