Saturday night, the Student Association held one of its biggest events of the year. This year's Springfest showcased not only a heavy rock band, but also a well-known eclectic rap group and an upcoming Indie rock band from the West Coast. Some 2,700 attendees rocked out at Alumni Arena, enjoying the wide-range of musical genres.
The show opened up with newcomers Lady Danville. Hailing from Los Angeles, this was the group's first performance on the East Coast and earning them $3,000. The band's acoustic-based sound added a bit of ambiance to the power chord domination that characterized most of the show.
Drawing upon Indie rock influences, the band played several tracks from its previously released self-titled EP. Although new, the trio proved that they could hold their own alongside rock veterans like Three Days Grace.
Jessica King, a senior English and math major, was pleased with the new band.
"Lady Danville was surprisingly good," King said. "Everybody keeps saying [SA] should have gotten better bands but… everybody seemed to like them."
Up next was Anberlin, a band known for its Christian rock vibe. The band changed up the laid-back mood set by Lady Danville and got people moving. Anberlin played numerous songs, pulling from all of their albums.
Joseph Westlake, a sophomore exercise science major, was especially pleased with this act.
"Just because they are rising and upcoming bands doesn't mean they are bad bands…I hadn't heard of Anberlin," Westlake said. "I gave them a chance, and they ended up being better than I thought."
Carrying on with the diversity was N.E.R.D., who was paid $50,000 to come to UB. They switched up the rock nature of the show, changing over to a set that was mainly rap-based. They played several songs off their previous albums, including "Beautiful", "Maybe" and "Rock Star."
Even though N.E.R.D. had two drum kits, the simplistic nature of the beats added nothing to the band's bland stage performance. The only time the crowd seemed to care was when the band was covering Nelly's "Hot in Herre."
There was no doubt that the star of the show was Three Days Grace, earning their $75,000 paycheck. The haunting lyrics of Johnny Cash's song "God's Gonna Cut You Down" floated through the dark arena as the band began to arrive.
As the band members took their spots, an emergency themed light show began with several red siren lights flashing. Within seconds, the arena was lit by pyrotechnics as the band went into their first song "Break." They followed up with other fan favorites, including "Bitter Taste," "Never Too Late" and "Riot."
Part of Three Day Grace's set included a drum solo, which mixed over the top special effects and turned out to be a genuine crowd pleaser.
As 3DG exited the stage, the crowd demanded more and refused to leave the arena. The band was happy to oblige. They returned, and much to the crowd's pleasure, played three more songs.
"The [pyrotechnics] was amazing," said Christine Chonka, a junior physics major. "The singer came out into the audience for part of [the set]. It was amazing. I haven't seen that happen at all at any concert."
Some students, though pleased with the show, wished that SA had made more of an effort to get an accurate student opinion. Liann Burgos, a senior theatre major, says she never got to give any input on the concert's lineup.
"[SA] said they had polled all the students, but I never got polled for Fallfest or Springfest," Burgos said.
Tim Britt, the SA Entertainment Music Director, defended SA's decision.
"We put together the best show we could," Britt said. "I'm definitely proud of it for the work I put into this show. We went after a lot of bands…some were available some were not."
Di'Monique George, the SA Entertainment Director, acknowledges that most student requests are out of the SA budget.
"Unfortunately we are really limited by our budget," George said. "Most of the artists that are requested…we would have to [use] the budget of three Fests. [We] put a lot of hard work into it and [then] you have people telling you that you're not trying hard enough and they really don't see what goes into it."
E-mail: arts@ubspectrum.com
