Homecoming week at CU Boulder has come and gone. The celebrations included the annual homecoming concert on Wednesday. This year, Program Council brought in artists NoMBe and Ashe to perform in the Glen Miller Ball Room in the UMC.
The evening started out with Ashe, an EDM singer and songwriter who performed a mellow and intimate set. She performed alone on stage with only a piano and a microphone. She then kicked off her shoes and used her insane vocals to wow the audience. Her set was a mix between covers and original songs, slowing down some of her lyrics from their original EDM sound, such as her mix with EDM artist Whethan, “Can’t Hide.”
Colorado State University students Jess Fitzke and Morgan Jackman drove all the way down to “enemy territory” just to hear Ashe perform.
“We are totally obsessed with her,” Jackman said.
In her last song of the evening, she momentarily forgot the words. As embarrassing as this could have been, she handled the situation with grace, asking the crowd if they could “be okay with her being human?” Her question was met with cheers of support.
After a brief intermission and lighting check, NoMBe took the stage with a full band behind him. The atmosphere in the venue changed tenfold and the crowd was vibrating with excitement. NoMBe offered a high-energy, interactive set. He took up a guitar for several songs, hopped down into the pit to interact with concert-goers and thrashed around on stage.
Program Council director Justin Douville said he planned the artists to contrast Jauz, a heavy dubstep artist who played at the Fox Theater that same night.
“I am really happy with how the night turned out,” Douville said. “Everyone seemed really engaged and into it.”
Despite being an unconventional venue for a concert, it seemed to be perfect for the nature of the show.
For being a much smaller setting than a usual concert hall, the sound was phenomenal and the acoustics were perfect throughout the show. The lighting was mellow and fit the mood of the show, maintaining a nice variation of mostly purple, blue and red.
According to Douville, it was a younger crowd than Program Council expected, but that only made for a fun evening. The event was sponsored by Yerba Mate, which had a beverage booth set up on the far side of the venue. Here, concert-goers were able to grab free natural energy drinks to keep them going throughout the night.
Contact CU Independent photo journalist Robin Fox at Robin.Fox@colorado.edu.