Rock Band 2

50 Achievements

1,000

60-80h

Xbox 360

The San Dimas 4th Annual Award

Competed in a Battle of the Bands event

How to unlock the The San Dimas 4th Annual Award achievement in Rock Band 2 - Definitive Guide

Shand Alk3

TrueAchievements

08 Apr 2012 03:26

As of the beginning of the year 2012 the only working Battle Of The Bands event expired, making this achievement unobtainable! They made new battles, but due to songs having no vocals the setlist was un-completable.

However on April 6th 2012 they posted a new battle that expires in 8 years and is 9 songs long with all on-disc songs. Making this achievement, once again, obtainable.

Pinball Wizard
Ramblin' Man
Let There Be Rock
We Got The Beat
Livin' On A Prayer
Alive
I Was Wrong
The Middle
That's What You Get

This battle must be played with a full band on Expert. There is NO overdrive, so if a bandmate fails out then you will have to restart the song.

It has been confirmed that if you start the battle and then your bandmates just quit, then you can finish the battle by yourself and still get the achievement.

EDIT: You can now do this battle by yourself! Through the Decades is the same setlist, but played solo! Thanks angelsk for this new info!

08 Apr 2012 03:26

56 Comments

Nice to hear it finally might actually be possible.
I'd really like to know if that rumour is true. None of my friends even have the game anymore.

By smplguy on 08 Apr 2012 15:10

I have all the instruements. I could set them up and join a battle with you and ill quit and you play..see what happens.

By Shand Alk3 on 08 Apr 2012 15:45

I can confirm the rumors that it is possible to do it with your bandmates quitting since the first song. I did it on bass expert and Let There Be Rock is the most difficult from the setlist.

By Chino Skeleton on 09 Apr 2012 17:17

Confirming, i just did it on mic, and had my friend drop out with his 3 instruments. Totally works.

By Stoiss on 10 Apr 2012 06:27

Hot

By KiNG Y0Y0 on 10 Apr 2012 12:09

tried doing this on may 13 2012 and couldnt connect to it

By Ki11erLawnGnome on 13 May 2012 07:48

you can connect...everytime you put in RB2 it takes roughly 5-10 minutes to connect to Rock Central.

By Shand Alk3 on 13 May 2012 14:25

I couldnt connect and I had it in for an hour so I know what ppl are talking about when they say they can nvr connect now

By o EcLiipzE on 17 May 2012 21:26

I signed in all the instruments and was planning on making all but the drumset quit the setlist but I started playing and there wasn't a quit button. I was playing locally so was that the problem? Can someone tell me the exact circumstances to make your bandmates quit please? I'd appreciate it! :)

By bailzmc on 28 May 2012 01:08

It cant be the you're connection. It has to be something on their end that makes it connect or not connect.

By Shand Alk3 on 29 May 2012 14:11

I think as of 30.05.2012 you can't start up a BOTB with a full band on expert & then just let your friends leave. I instantly failed out. Any options?

By MC0REBE on 30 May 2012 20:14

they might have changed it but i doubt they went back and made it so you couldnt. I could try it w/ you and see.

By Shand Alk3 on 30 May 2012 23:37

Not entirely true, I just got this achievement, you do fail out when they disconnect, but you can retry, and you won't fail again so long as you can play the songs well, it showed the band in Red the entire time, but I kept my icon up at the top after completing the set, the achievement popped.

By CodeRedAddictMD on 31 May 2012 03:00

Thanks for the help Shand! :)
MCoreBE I know what you're talking about because it happened to me. You have to host the lobby using your own band, not your friend's band. Then it should say your friend's instruments disconnected but it should still let you continue playing

By bailzmc on 01 Jun 2012 19:11

Oh and once your friend quits you will fail out. but because you are hosting, you click retry and THEN it will let you continue :P

By bailzmc on 01 Jun 2012 19:16

Can you just have a full band on expert complete the first song, and then quit? I've heard people mentioning this, but I haven't seen confirmation.

By Octobot Super on 02 Aug 2012 23:01

The person who wants the achievement has to play the whole gig. Start to end :)

By Shand Alk3 on 03 Aug 2012 00:18

Gotcha. Thanks for the quick reply! So from what I understand, this should work: I plug three instruments in, I find a person online to use a fourth instrument, I have them quit, and then I select Retry with whatever instrument I want to use? No need to do anything to my other instruments, or should I sign them out?

By Octobot Super on 03 Aug 2012 15:19

Well, no. You have to have only one instrument plugged in..you need either three friends or one person with 3 instruments to quit. If you want, I will help you. I still have the game and all my instruments.

By Shand Alk3 on 03 Aug 2012 15:43

Shand Alk3 was gracious enough to help me get this achievement! Many thanks.

Also, it seems that the person getting the achievement should be the one inviting the other players into the game. If the "leader" drops out the game seems to boot the other players back to the practice space.

By Octobot Super on 05 Aug 2012 00:23

Shand Alk3 also spared his time to help me get this. Much love :)

By ScorchPSO on 13 Aug 2012 23:31

Shand Alk3 also helped me out very gracious!

By folds2008 on 05 Oct 2012 00:15

Can anyone tell me if this achievement has any restrictions on pausing or anything like that?

By Zephyrz Inferno on 26 Jan 2013 23:51

A million thanks to Shand Alk3 for helping me get this achievement and Comeback Kid. Both done in less than an hour! It's always amazing to find someone willing to help get online achievements that are nearly impossible because they are so old. Again, THANKS!

By Zephyrz Inferno on 29 Jan 2013 02:08

Anybody still willing to help me get this?

By Skroto Sackins on 08 Feb 2013 16:35

I will lol

By Shand Alk3 on 08 Feb 2013 18:36

Thanks again for the help Shand. You are truly a class act.

By Skroto Sackins on 09 Feb 2013 21:42

I think this might be discontinued again. Nobody has won it online in 3 months and when I tried to get it today I couldn't.
When I clicked battle of the bands: "Sorry, but you're unable to connect to Battle of the Bands at the moment. Please make sure that your band is connected to Xbox LIVE and Rock Central.

Is Rock Central down? I know Harmonix is trying to revive the franchise so I don't know why it would be down.

By KinectKid333 on 30 Apr 2015 00:38

Okay, checked again today and they have it back up. (Dont know why it was down) Played through the first song good and when it went to the second song it game me the unreadable disc error. Ironically, I bought it in the used games section at game stop and when I looked at the disc I'm like okay it only has one scratch on it it shouldn't affect gameplay that much so I didn't get the 1-year scratch warranty. ALSO, this was the first game I bought that I DIDN'T get the scratch warranty on (its only $1). How ironic.

On a related note, for anyone who still wants to get this, you have 5-1/2 years or until MS stops supporting XB360.

By KinectKid333 on 06 May 2015 16:36

i have tried this many different days at many different times and i have never been able to connect, it always says they are down. Anyone else having trouble or know if this is unobtainable or not????

By JTYdude99 on 13 Feb 2016 21:03

I would contact Harmonix and check with them, they may be able to give you a more definitive answer in regards to connection issues whether it be down servers for a day(s) or if it's truly unobtainable at this point.

By CodeRedAddictMD on 22 Feb 2016 21:31

I can't connect to rock central.... any ideas?

By TruthTwo on 26 Dec 2016 20:20

It has been up and down for the past couple days. Rock Band Blitz wasn't working and Rock Band 3 online was down. I'd assume they'll fix it soon, considering RB4 doesn't even have online yet.

By KinectKid333 on 26 Dec 2016 20:23

Yeah, those problems are usually only temporary.

By lightsup55 on 26 Dec 2016 21:33

I'm trying to get this achievement and my game just always says attempting to connect to rock Central. Is there somewhere to force it to connect?

By foodiddiedoo on 03 Jan 2017 01:13

I can confirm that this is unlockable as of 1/23/2017. When I loaded RB2 it prompted me to update which may have fixed my issue with connecting to the servers. I played the entire 'Through the Decades Battle' and the achievement popped at the end. (played solo on expert guitar)

By Holy Acid on 23 Jan 2017 16:38

Kept trying to connect for a week and finally got through.

By Mental Knight 5 on 22 Feb 2017 09:41

Getting nothing but "Attempting to connect to Rock Central..." every time I go on

By Soundgoodizer on 06 Mar 2017 01:39

I am always getting the same message. Can't connect to rock central... Is it a matter of keep trying? frustrating

By TruthTwo on 02 Jun 2017 18:14

It was for me. And I connected at like 3am or 4am Eastern, don't know if that had anything to do with it.

By Mental Knight 5 on 03 Jun 2017 02:56

LIVE AS OF 9/14/17 AND GO!!!!

By Khaotix64 on 14 Sep 2017 07:01

I was able to connect to Rock Central and there's been a recent string of unlocks so hopefully things are fixed!

By Llamaman2 on 21 Dec 2017 22:30

Live as of 10/17/2019

By The S bot 9000 on 18 Oct 2019 05:47

Live as of 5/30/2020. Looks like it said it'll be ending within the next year though

By kT Echo on 30 May 2020 19:17

Yep, looks like this will end on March 16, 2021. The window of opportunity to get this achievement is closing

By KinectKid333 on 30 May 2020 19:40

I tried to do the battle of the bands today but it won't let me connect....

By TheLastTruth on 10 Mar 2021 17:40

Tried the past couple days and no luck either

By FEAR PointMan24 on 14 Mar 2021 21:09

I noticed some people have unlocked this offline. Is it possible that this is not actually going to be discontinued?

Maybe getting it online with a timestamp will no longer be possible, but offline is always possible?

Can anyone verify that this mode still works? Some folks above are saying it was already prematurely shutdown.

By TruthfulSkate8 on 16 Mar 2021 03:32

my understanding was you needed to connect to the server to start the event, but from there it could be completed offline because it didn't require a constant connection

By Llamaman2 on 22 Apr 2021 20:33

This can't be unlocked after the Feb-Mar 2021 closure as the online event was needed. The 20 or so people after that date are hacking it in and should be reported.

By TruthfulSkate8 on 14 Dec 2022 17:55

Anyone able to still get this somehow?

By Sunnshhine on 06 Mar 2023 19:17

it cant all be local. at least one has to be online. So if i sign in three instruments and you play as the fourth, and i quit...then itll work :)

By Shand Alk3 on 28 May 2012 15:12

connecting to rb central may work or not. I got ach last saturday, but I tried to connect couple weeks earlierwith my cable box, waited 15-20 mins no luck, resetting everything, few different days, times and everything that I could find on internet that people believed might helped to connect - but no luck.

Last weekend, I used my android cell phone and it's internet connection thru my laptop, and I could connect almost instantly (1minute or less). Without more research data, I say it's about connection or just time/day/luck. But it seems to be working all the time with this internet connection. Can't test my cable box connection anytime soon.

By Zalexzy on 29 May 2012 06:43

Okay, as you can tell, my first RB2 disc is scratched af, and the second song, Ramblin' Man, will crash the game. Yesterday I drove 10 miles to GameStop SPECIFICALLY to buy another RB2. Bought it for $2, opened it up and it was heavily scratched, worse than my first copy. I'm like, this'll never work, but I was worth a shot. Played through all nine songs and got the achievement. I never thought that the disc, being in the condition it was in, would allow me to play all nine songs.

Once again, for those that don't have it, you have 5 years to do so, or until MS stops supporting Xbox Live on the 360

By KinectKid333 on 14 Sep 2015 22:36

TruthfulSkate, they aren't cheaters. At one point it was possible to unlock this achievement offline legitimately. One way that could have happened was you were connected to Xbox Live to access the setlist and start the setlist, then sometime during the setlist you get disconnected from Xbox Live. Once you complete the setlist, you unlock the achievement, but it's unlocked offline.

TA notes the unlock date as recently because that is the date that each of those users registered to the site. TA doesn't know when you unlocked an offline achievement, so it just sets the unlock date to the day you registered on the site. Check the registration date of any of those users (by going to their profile and hovering your mouse over the "registration" badge -- which has a person icon), and it will match with their unlock date of this achievement. That is because they earned the achievement offline legitimately many years ago, when the achievement was still obtainable.

By KinectKid333 on 14 Dec 2022 20:45

angelsk had contacted Harmonix Music Systems and a slightly easier battle was uploaded March 25, 2013.

Solution for The San Dimas 4th Annual Award In Rock Band 2

TOUR -> LOCAL TOUR -> (create/select your band) -> (join in on your controller and press Start button) -> BATTLE OF THE BANDS -> Through the Decades Battle

The battle is the exact same battle as listed in this solution, but CAN BE PLAYED SOLO ON ANY DIFFICULTY. The restrictions of No Saviors (if playing as a band) and No Overdrive are still in effect. As of now, the battle ends in 7 years, 327 days. I'm sure that will give you plenty of time.

By lightsup55 on 17 Apr 2013 14:26

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AdamRawrr

TrueAchievements

23 May 2009 02:26

i couldn't be bothered doin' it with guitar at the time, so i did vocals.

Tour > *Sign in & pick instrument* > Battle of the Bands

Pick any you like, obviously the first one would plan out to be the easiest, so click choose easy.. And play

- achieve should unlock after completing a song.

Questions?

23 May 2009 02:26

10 Comments

Whats 2+2? : )

By DrinkingDark1 on 31 Jan 2010 20:20

Pizza? D:

By AdamRawrr on 10 Feb 2010 11:46

This is my second profile where i play rock band 2 but i always have to download songs or it can't connect.
Its weard

By J0erri on 28 Mar 2011 22:32

For some reason it wont let me do this. Everyone's "comments" make me think it should easy, but it says I need other people in my band. I don't know anyone else that still plays this.

By smplguy on 08 Feb 2012 23:41

As of February 2012 there's only one battle of the bands challenge available, and it requires a bunch of DLC to play (not to mention a full band), so this is fairly cost prohibitive in earning at this point. It expires in December 2012, no word on if this will be the last one ever or if they will actually put a new BotB challenge up after that.

By VegaDark541 on 12 Feb 2012 18:29

I've been complaining mass. They'll fix it.

By KiNG Y0Y0 on 24 Mar 2012 10:07

Where did you complain? I wanna join you lol

By Shand Alk3 on 24 Mar 2012 10:18

Send them an email. Support@rockband.com

By KiNG Y0Y0 on 31 Mar 2012 00:55

I can see three band battles now. There's another that just includes nine disc tracks but still requires a full band to play.

By punkyliar on 03 May 2012 11:29

Looks like they added a new battle a few days ago (it expires in 8 years 358 days), but to me it still looks like a complete rip-off because they removed only one song from the songlist. Besides it still contains 3 songs without a voice track ("Surfin with the Alien", "Caprici di Diablo", "Rude Mood"), so I doubt that it is even completable. Maybe they will do something about it if enough people complain about it in the Rock Band forum or open a support ticket for it.

By reit78 on 17 Mar 2012 11:53

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angelsk

TrueAchievements

25 Mar 2013 23:59

Not able to complete Pearl Jam on Expert vocals, I decided to contact Harmonix support to see if they would make a slightly easier challenge for those who missed out / can't quite make it.

They agreed, and let me know today (25th Mar 2013) that they'd "fixed" it :)

I just completed a Battle on my own on medium vocals (took 45 mins-ish)

It's the same 9 on disc songs, but you can play any number of instruments (inc solo) and on any difficulty. No saviour / overdrive, but that should be fine :)

To get to the tour: TOUR -> LOCAL TOUR -> (create/select your band) -> (join in on your controller and press Start button) -> BATTLE OF THE BANDS -> Through the Decades Battle (Thanks to lightsup55 for the amendment :)

Songs for "Through the Decades" battle (valid for 8 years):

Pinball Wizard
Ramblin' Man
Let There Be Rock
We Got The Beat
Livin' On A Prayer
Alive
I Was Wrong
The Middle
That's What You Get

By the way... it should be NOTED that the achievement unlocks AFTER pressing the green A button (green fret button on guitar / tap green pad on drums) to "FINISH SETLIST" at the end of the last song. (Thanks to lightsup55 for the amendment :)

25 Mar 2013 23:59

5 Comments

Achievement... That's What You Get.

Harmonix Music Systems <---- Take note developers! Best developer I know that actually SUPPORTS their games.

@angelsk, Thanks for contacting them. This was a super easy Battle of the Bands event.

By the way... it should be NOTED that the achievement unlocks AFTER pressing the green A button (green fret button on guitar / tap green pad on drums) to "FINISH SETLIST" at the end of the last song.

By lightsup55 on 17 Apr 2013 14:11

For those confused on how to get to the battle...

TOUR -> LOCAL TOUR -> (create/select your band) -> (join in on your controller and press Start button) -> BATTLE OF THE BANDS -> Through the Decades Battle

By lightsup55 on 17 Apr 2013 14:29

Got this Feb 11, 2021. Wasn't paying attention and literally just noticed it was expiring.

It worked exactly as angelsk described

By smplguy on 12 Feb 2021 01:48

Having trouble connecting to rock central. Not sure why this achievement is marked as it can be achieved offline.

By Reabo on 23 Feb 2016 11:01

How can people get this offline? I'm completely baffled right now because I feel like they've already shut down the servers for this achievement, please someone let me know ASAP.

Or can somebody please give them an email to put up another set of challenges? I'd appreciate it if anybody did :)

By FireWolfenn on 06 Sep 2021 03:27

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OperativeEmeral

TrueAchievements

09 May 2017 03:24

Just adding this as an update.

I just unlocked this Achievement a few minutes ago, so as of 5/8/2017 this Achievement can still be obtained. I played through the decades setlist on medium, solo, on guitar, the Achievement unlocks after finishing the last song and pressing the green fret button to 'finish setlist'. On the screen where you get your rewards the Achievement unlocks.

09 May 2017 03:24

TooMuchCowbell

XboxAchievements

Harmonix has been nice enough to set up daily and weekly challenges to do in a band. From your band's practice space, go to "Battle of the Bands" and pick one and compete in it.

legndorock

PlaystationTrophies

UNOBTAINABLE

Battle of the Bands are no longer issued so this trophy is no longer achievable.

Go to the screen where you see ROCK SHOP, CONTINUE TOUR, and BATTLE OF THE BANDS. Go there and click on BATTLE OF THE BANDS, then click on one of the battles you can do. You can go over to summary when your in the Battle screen to see the requirements for the competition. Some are solo only some you need a certain instrument and some you need certain DLC for the game. Compete in the battle by just starting it up and finishing the battle. Soon after your done the battle you'll get the trophy.

Stratege

stratege.ru

08 May 2009 10:07

This guide was translated automatically.

Harmonix hosts special events daily and weekly. You need to connect to the network and go to “Battle of the Bands” from your team’s room, select any available one and complete it. It is not necessary to win the main participation here.

08 May 2009 10:07