by ROSE BRENNAN & GABRIELLA DEPINHO, A&E Editor & News Editor
On Saturday, April 13, Manhattan College held its annual Springfest, an end-of-year celebration for students’ hard work and a day that is anticipated for the entire academic year.
This year’s Springfest was unlike any other, in which three featured artists took the stage: singer-songwriter Skylar Grey, electro-pop duo 3OH!3 and R&B artist Jeremih. This lineup of artists led to a day chock-full of festivities, including live music, carnival games, karaoke and more.
Springfest was made possible through the efforts of the Office of Student Engagement and Casey Monroe, vice president for social life.
“I think each year, especially from what I’ve seen in the past four years that I’ve been here, every show has been unique and individual in its own way,” said Monroe. “I pushed for the best, the person before me pushed for the best and I want that to continue to be my legacy that I leave for the next person who does this job.”
The day’s activities kicked off at 11 a.m. with a barbecue on the campus quadrangle, catered by Gourmet Dining. It was during this time that carnival games and a mechanical bull were set out for students to play with. Many students faced their friends in the games, but many others chose to eat, sit on the Smith Auditorium steps, and soak up the sun on the beautiful above-70 degree day, the first of its kind this year.
At about 1 p.m., students began filing into Draddy Gymnasium to listen to the first artist in the Springfest lineup, singer-songwriter Skylar Grey. Grey, who declined a request for an interview, opened for 3OH!3 with some of her tried and true favorites, including “Love the Way You Lie,” “Glorious,” and “Coming Home.”
Following Grey’s performance, Monroe took to the stage to introduce 3OH!3, but before she did so, she invited the Jasper Dancers, fresh from their first place win at NDA Nationals onto the stage to rally the crowd. The team also brought with them their first place trophy, and the crowd went wild.
Once the dancers left the stage, it was time for 3OH!3 to perform. At approximately 2:23 p.m., the duo, comprised of Sean Foreman and Nathaniel Motte from Denver, Colo. took the stage to deafening cheers, and opened with “Hear Me Now.” The set lasted a bit over an hour and included crowd favorites such as “My First Kiss” and “DONTTRUSTME.”
Foreman said, “[Our favorite song to do for a college crowd] changes. My First Kiss and DONTTRUSTME, a lot of people know from their childhood but for us when people sing it back super loud, that’s the best for us.”
Motte and Foreman, who met and started making music together in college, find they feel most at home in front of college audiences.
“We love it, honestly, we’ve been doing colleges for a really long time, it’s very kin to us. We went to a big university, we went to the University of Colorado and we made some of our best memories, friendships, started making music there,” said Motte. “Being able to rock a party and today people came out and were so amped, it’s easy for us.”
Following 3OH!3’s performance, more fun activities were provided for students on the campus quadrangle, but soon the crowd began to grow restless for the third and final act scheduled for the day: Jeremih.
Once again, a few minutes before Jeremih’s set was to begin, students began to file into Draddy Gymnasium. While his act was set to begin at 7:30 p.m., a DJ first walked onto the stage at 8:11 p.m. to warm up the crowd. Finally, at 8:25 p.m., Jeremih himself went onstage to begin his act. Along with some of his lesser-known songs, the crowd went crazy for some of his bigger hits, including “Don’t Tell ‘Em,” “Down on Me” and “Birthday Sex.” Jeremih engaged with the crowd through his music, and even invited the men’s basketball team up onto the stage with him.
After Jeremih’s set, the show and the evening’s activities closed with a DJ.
Overall, all the planning paid off and Monroe found that everyone enjoyed the day as much as she did.
Monroe said, “I heard from a lot of students that they genuinely enjoyed all of the concerts. From my perspective, the reason we put on the show was to have some people who like this genre listen to this music and some people who like that genre listen to that music but everybody seemed to enjoy every genre. Everyone was having a good time. I felt a lot of sense of community which I don’t, I’m not going to say always feel, but it’s really nice to feel that.”