On Saturday night, after a day of confused weather during the Binghamton University Student Association’s annual Spring Fling event, the Student Association Programming Board concluded the party with a grab-bag of musical acts.
The concert marked the end of the reign of Vice President for Programming Aaron Cohn, a man who was once coined an “institution” by the staff of Pipe Dream. Fortunately for him, his selection of bands for the Spring Fling concert had something for everyone and did not disappoint.
The day’s rain brought some unfortunate consequences for concertgoers. Besides turning the concert area outside the Student Wing and Lecture Hall into a soupy mud pit, the rain also forced homegrown band The Mighty Koyas to move its set from the main stage into the Undergrounds.
The band was supposed to have the honor of opening the Spring Fling concert after winning the Battle of the Bands competition last week. Despite the change of venue, the Koyas deserves a shout-out for what was undoubtedly the best set of the evening.
The band’s high-energy blend of rhyme-infused, reggae/rock-inspired power jams, with some Latin funk thrown in for good measure, offered something surprisingly unique for all in attendance. It was unfortunate that the band members were unable to perform on the main stage to a larger audience, but all who witnessed their show in the Undergrounds know the band has set the standard high for BU student bands.
Super Mash Bros. hit the stage at 6:45 p.m., offering up their blend of mash-up dance remixes. They played everything from The Beatles’ version of “Twist and Shout” to Soulja Boy to the rave classic, “Sandstorm.” With a nod to the increasingly popular genre, they threw in some dubstep remixes as well.
For two guys with MacBook Pros, they were able to keep the crowd going at an impressively high energy level for the duration of their set. They stuck to the formula that was developed and polished by Girl Talk, keeping to short, danceable mash-up clips of music from every spectrum of pop. Nothing groundbreaking here, but just the right blend of dance and recognizable tracks to keep you on your feet throughout their set.
This type of electronic party music occupies a small but growing niche of college kids looking for new dance music and simultaneously trying to reminisce about the pop music of yesterday. They are definitely doing something right; the group just recently announced they are headlining at the Electric Zoo festival in September.
After Super Mash Bros. left their mark on the Spring Fling main stage, the crowd geared up for more pop music from Far East Movement. The group is currently supporting its first major-label debut from Cherrytree/Interscope records, titled “Free Wired.”
Far East Movement included a mix of instrumentation, with a DJ at the back of the stage, keyboards and guitars. They played a mix of Top-40 pop songs, including their own singles “Like a G6” and “Rocketeer,” of course.
The musicians themselves were extremely energetic on stage, dancing around from start to finish. Someone seemingly informed them that our mascot was a Bearcat, as they repeatedly attempted to rile up the crowd by using our “Bearcat Pride.” The band’s high-energy persona salvaged what was left of its set, turning what would have been a lackluster DJ playing Top-40 hits into a musical performance that was somewhat enjoyable.
The final act to grace the stage was Taking Back Sunday.
After a handful of lineup changes since the band’s inception in 1999, Taking Back Sunday has just recently returned to performing with its original lineup from the “Tell All Your Friends” era. This lineup consists of Adam Lazzara on vocals, John Nolan on guitar and back-up vocals, Eddie Reyes on guitar, Shaun Cooper on bass guitar and Mark O’Connell on the drums.
In a nod to the “Tell All Your Friends” era, the band opened with the high energy crowd-pleaser “Cute without the E (Cut from the Team).” From there, they played a healthy mix of songs from all of their albums.
Toward the middle of their set, John Nolan took off his guitar and switched to piano for a performance of Straylight Run’s song “Existentialism on Prom Night.”
The band also promoted its newest album, titled “Taking Back Sunday,” which will be released June 28. Off this new album, the band played “El Paso,” “Best Places to be a Mom” and “Faith (When I Let You Down).” The new songs have that classic Taking Back Sunday feel — Long Island emo-rock songs with lyrics that are easy to sing along to.
Overall, the band seemed confident and happy to be returning to the stage. The crowd seemed pleased as well, warmly receiving the new songs and singing the words to classics such as “You’re So Last Summer” and “Timberwolves at New Jersey.” They played their new songs with as much ease as their older classics. Their new album will undoubtedly return them as heavy players in the new American rock scene.
The Spring Fling concert certainly had something for everyone. Aaron Cohn took a gamble mixing electronic music, Top 40 pop music and Long Island rock music in a one-off concert. But in the end, it worked because the Binghamton student body is equally as diverse as our Spring Fling lineup.
Cohn has set the standard for future Spring Fling lineups with this festival-like structure. You can’t please everyone with one act — especially when that act is Eve 6 — but incorporating a mix of genres, such as the one seen on Saturday night, is exactly the way to try.