Imagine pulsating beats and killer raps, mixed in with a fiddle and what do you have? This year’s Homecoming concert.
The theme for this Homecoming week is “Get Animated” and students who attended Wednesday’s concert intended to do nothing but that.
UMC security said the sold out show brought an audience of around 1,000 students.
Starting at 5:30 p.m., students lined up for the free concert to see Oregon-born artist RJD2 and the local opening acts Whiskey Blanket and DJ Rootz.
The three bands seemed to already have fans among the CU student population, including Emily Kleinfelder, a 22-year-old senior psychology and speech, listening and hearing sciences major.
“I have seen RJD2 perform once before,” Kleinfelder said. “I was more than ready to see him perform again.”
The Homecoming concert offered a diverse array of musicians. For fans of house fused with some hip-hop, DJ Rootz was the artist to watch.
“I’ve heard some good things about DJ Rootz, and he definitely didn’t disappoint,” said Allison Bryant, a 20-year-old junior pre-communication major.
The second band in the line-up, Whiskey Blanket, served students up with an interesting mixture of rapping and playing a fiddle. Finally, RJD2 ended the night with his multi-instrumental hip-hop hits and smooth beats. Jennifer Smiley, a 20-year-old architecture junior major, said she enjoyed RJD2.
“He killed it,” Smiley said.
With the appearance of a free concert right here on the CU campus, one has to ask “Did this free concert promote school spirit?”
Mara Rosenthal, a 20-year-old junior journalism major, said events such as these “promote school awareness rather than school spirit.”
“It also promotes Program Council, which actually does some pretty cool things for students,” Rosenthal said.
The close proximity of the concert was a draw for many students, including 22-year-old graduate integrative physiology major Phillip Siebler.
“The concert seemed cool and the fact that it was close is even better,” Siebler said.
Walking around the Glenn Miller Ballroom, students were given free “schwag” from vendors such as Boulder Beats, Pizza Hut and Program Council itself. A table was set up where students could buy merchandise from all three bands and show their support.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Taylor Evans at Taylor.Evans@colorado.edu.