Fog slipped through the doors of Schine Underground Wednesday evening as a night of electronic dance music, referred to as EDM, began. Three different acts took the stage in what turned out to be a nearly three hour-long party.
Cash Cash [11], the New Jersey-based EDM trio, headlined the final installment of University Union’s [12] Bandersnatch series for the fall semester of 2014.
Only two members of the trio, JP Makhlouf and Sam Frisch, took the stage Wednesday night, but this was nothing new. Frisch mentioned that Makhlouf’s brother, Alex, wouldn’t be with them on stage.
“A lot of times only two of us will do the shows, and one person will stay back in the studio," Frisch said. "So we’re constantly making new music.”
The duo started off their set teasing a pumped up crowd with the chorus from their hit “Take Me Home [13],” but quickly dropped into a remix of Empire of the Sun’s “Alive [14].”
Nicky Romero and Avicii’s well-known track “I Could Be The One [15]” was next on Cash Cash’s set list as the crowd erupted, singing each and every word.
Makhlouf mentioned that while the group has an idea of what they want to play each night, every concert is different, and they’re always making changes on the fly.
“You can only prepare so much,” Makhlouf said. “We show up and the audience is completely different each night. You can’t really just go in there knowing what you’re gonna do.”
Frisch agreed that improvisation is key during these shows.
“There are always highlights that we know we want to do, like our original songs and our remixes,” Frisch explained. “But a lot of times we expect one thing, and then we got to change it up on the fly. Sometimes we have to throw a lot more hip-hop into the set, or like some throwbacks.”
Their set for Wednesday night featured an assortment of EDM.
“We’re playing original songs, remixes, and original tracks that we make and it sort of all comes together and feels like one,” Makhlouf explained.
One song in particular, Cash Cash’s new original called “Surrender [16],” stuck with many fans. The song features intense build-ups and fist-pumping drops, all accompanied by inspiring vocals from Julia Michaels.
Alex Hoaglund, a broadcast and digital journalism junior, admits she only attended because her friend had an extra ticket, but she did not leave disappointed.
“I wasn’t really a huge Cash Cash fan, and really only knew ‘Take Me Home,’ but I heard ‘Surrender’ for the first time tonight and I really liked it!” Hoaglund said.
After the song, Makhlouf asked each concertgoer to "surrender yourself to the music!”
“Overtime [17]” was the next original the group played, and the exciting track brought the energy in the room to new heights.
However, the party started long before Cash Cash ever took the stage.
Hours before, as students started piling in, Julian Nelums [18], an SU student, filled the room with a bass-heavy set. Later, with well over 100 students already in the crowd, Joel Almand, known on stage as Almond [19], took over.
The Buffalo native had the crowd going, playing all sorts of throwback hits remixed to create prime dancing tunes. Some crowd favorites included remixes of the Full House theme song [20], the Drake and Josh theme song [21], and “The Anthem [22]” by Good Charlotte.
At 10:21, exactly one hour after Cash Cash had first taken the stage, the duo announced that they had one more song to play. That song, as everyone in the room could have guessed, was “Take Me Home.”
Makhlouf pointed out how the group was really able to see the song grow, eventually having it reach #57 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States.
“It never was like 0 to 60. It was kind of just like, oh wow, now that song is on dance radio,” Makhlouf continued to explain. “And oh, the DJs are playing it. And now there are some awesome producers that remixed it. Now it’s on a TV show. And now it’s on the radio. We really got to just appreciate every little that was happening as it was happening.”
As the song and the voices of about every attendee echoed through the speakers, Makhlouf and Frisch made their way to the front of the stage. The two sprayed their fans with water as the song dropped, providing a firework-like ending to a fantastic night of music.
The two stuck around after the show to take pictures with just about any fan that asked.
Casey Schuster, a public relations junior, was beyond satisfied with her night.
“It was one of my favorite concerts at Syracuse,” Schuster said. “They played all of my favorites, and the opening DJs were really good too!"
By 10:30, Schine Underground was empty, as over 300 students made their way back to their residences, exhausted by a full Wednesday night of the very best in EDM.
