Some say it'll make you feel like an eager child on Christmas morning. Others claim it's the only good reason to wake up before 9 a.m. on a Sunday. Either way, the 10th annual Juice Jam Music Festival brought music lovers together in a final hurrah before classes pick up pace.
Giving off a Coachella-meets-college kind of vibe, two stages plus seven acts made for lots of variety, a huge party and the priceless feeling that the festival was the best spent $15 of your life. For its 10th anniversary, the concert brought just the right amount of juice to make every kind of music head jam. Some students came for the slick hip-hop sounds of Ace Hood [13], Schoolboy Q [14] and Tinashe [15]. Others came for the indie beats of Broods [16] and MisterWives [17]. Mostly everyone was there to rock out to the house and electro sounds of 3LAU [18] and concert headliner, Dillon Francis [19].
A barrage of flower crowns, flannels and fringe descended on Skytop Field, as students dressed for the sold-out concert in their most boho and vintage looks. Crop tops competed with bucket hats for the most worn item of the day. While tie-dye and red, white and blue flag prints took a close second. Some of the day's performers erred on the side of old school as well. MisterWives’ singer Mandy Lee kicked off the show singing “Reflections” while clad in black and white retro shorts. Tinashe belted her hit single “2 On” with flannel wrapped around her waist, and of course Schoolboy Q’s classic bucket hat gave a nod to the '80s. University Union [20] even gave out Juice Jam snapbacks to the first 200 concertgoers for the first time ever. A perfect compliment to the hats were the baggy '90s jumpsuits spotted in the crowd -- all in the name of festival fashion.
No matter what artists, songs or style-spotting opportunities that people came for, when bass and vocals filled the air, it brought everyone together. Friend or stranger, freshman or senior, everyone could agree that they were there for the same three reasons -- good music, good company and good times.
"It's a time that all students can come together and have one place to hang out, enjoy the sun and enjoy good music," said Syracuse University senior Zachary Jacobson.
It’s that same togetherness that made for an overall epic event. From the crowd jumping together and singing every song in unison, to them going wild over Tinashe and Schoolboy Q’s performance, to the packs of people who simultaneously dove to the ground in hopes of catching the rapper’s bucket hat. If that’s not solidarity, then I don’t know what is.
Mandy Lee summed it up best when she said, "It's a universal language and no matter what your demographic is, music is that one thing that brings everyone together no matter what language you speak. It's like magic."
And most can agree that this year’s Juice Jam festival was nothing short of magical.
Review & Photos: Dillon Francis, Schoolboy Q rock sold-out festival [21]
