As Shakespeare once penned, “parting is such sweet sorrow.” So long, Beyond Tomorrow – the local band plays its last show tonight.

“It’s bittersweet. We don’t want it to end,” said keyboardist Michael Ellers, a 2007 alumnus from Kennesaw. “I think we’re just kind of moving to different stages in our lives.”

Guitarist and vocalist Patrick Hoydar, a junior business education major from Douglasville, said the band had trouble focusing on music with the members’ other commitments.

“Life has gotten in the way of all of that stuff,” Hoydar said.

The band gained recognition after winning a battle of the bands in 2005 sponsored by Star 94.1 FM. It earned a spot opening for Bon Jovi at Philips Arena in Atlanta.

“We’ve been through a lot in a very short period of time,” said drummer Philip Goodwin, a former University student from Athens.

The band members said they wished the band could continue, but are excited about the future.

“It’s the closing of one door and the opening of another,” Ellers said, “kind of a finale in a big chapter in all of our lives.”

Ellers said he planned to get a full-time job and put his recently acquired degree in finance to work.

Goodwin said he hopes to devote more time to his full-time job as creative director for fashion design company Raw Talent.

Hoydar said he wanted to stay involved in music.

“I personally am getting really big into music production,” he said.

Bassist Alec Wooden, a senior telecommunication arts major from Tucker, and Out & About editor for The Red & Black, also said he wanted to pursue music. Wooden said he wanted to look for a job in journalism.

All the band members said they wanted to go out with a bang.

“It’s going to be an emotional and nostalgic night,” Ellers said.