Port-o-potties lined up: check. Temperature super chilly (oh, you mean a super freezing 61 degrees?) Check. Dark gray clouds in the sky, complimented with a drizzle here and there? Check, check.
Yes, the atmosphere came off a little sad and droopy before the 11th annual Juice Jam show Sunday. But that didn’t stop the event, nor mood of the students getting hyped for the acts of SNBRN, BØRNS, Matt and Kim, iLoveMakonnen, Oliver Heldens and Big Sean.
“Why are they running?” Some students asked, laughing as fellow students pushed and shoved their ways past security to a clearly-not-occupied front. But those running already knew what was up: they knew the event would be one to remember.
Fast forward a few hours later, and you could see the once vacant muddy grass replaced with a crowd of students, sporting such accessories as snap back hats and different colored shades. "What are thoooooose,” vine references echoed through the air.
Indie pop, hip hop, alternative dance duo and electronic music were the genres present on the scene, first starting off with the disk jockey, SNBRN. The music thumped so hard that it could shake a rib cage and with a headphone placed over his right ear and off of his left, the disk jockey jammed away with the students.
It was clear that the show was just getting started at the time: open spots were still seen on the grass and students huddled together and took photos, smiling despite the cold (and a DJ who was trying to get everyone pumped up). But the audience was still respectful toward SNBRN’s music, and waved their hands in the air - like they just didn’t care.
BØRNS pumped things up with his songs, including “Electric Love” and “10,000 Emerald Pools”. “We love you” cheers filled the air as the artist pointed enthusiastically toward the crowd before returning to the mic to finish his set.
The crowd grew for Matt and Kim, who definitely got the students up on their feet as soon as they hit the stage.
“Can we kick this set 0-100 real quick?” Matt, in charge of vocals and keyboard, hollered to the crowd. The audience roared as he drenched the people in the front with water and threw the bottle into the crowd.
The duo added bonus points to their interactions with students by screaming along with them to songs and telling interesting stories. Matt recalled the last time he was in Syracuse.
“It ended with someone peeing on my brother,” Matt said into the mic. “I need someone to pee on my brother at the end of this event.”
ILoveMakonnen popped up soon after, and everyone jammed to his songs, including his hit remix, “Tuesday.” “HUGH!” The artist screamed and stomped on stage, valiantly trying to amp up the slowing crowd.
Oliver Heldens came on and kept the positive vibes flowing by releasing big white balloons into the crowd. The students were super hyped about the balloons and though Heldens didn’t shout toward the crowd as frequently as previous artists did, he made sure to show his love by walking up to the side fence and taking selfies with fans. He threw in as many hugs as he could before being escorted to his white tent backstage.
But of course Big Sean was the main event everyone was waiting for. The rapper included his popular hits, “IDFWU,” “Blessings” and “One Man Can Change the World” in his act.
All day, here and there you could hear students mumble “blessings on blessings on blessings” and “waaay up, I feel blessed” as they walked by.
Big Sean made sure to represent his hometown, Detroit, with a white thick printed letter “D” plastered on top of his blue fitted cap as part of his attire, although that didn’t stop him from giving Syracuse plenty of shout outs.
“Syracuse, you the best, you deserve a crown,” Big Sean rapped during a throwback reference to his older song “Dance (AS$)”. He even threw in some words of wisdom to the crowd.
“Don’t surround yourself with negative people,” he said. “You deserve success.”
He made sure to raise his salmon-colored shirt to sport his 6 pack abs, even taking it off before running back to the front of the stage to sing in unison with the students to the “All Me” single.
If the students weren’t looking forward to the rapper’s hits, they enjoyed countless singles from other performers.
“I was excited about iLoveMakonnen and Oliver Heldens,” public relations junior Eric Chuang said. “This is the one song I like from him,” he said, nodding to the background beats and iLoveMakonnen’s performance of “Tuesday.”
Students got loud and rowdy. Some would attempt (and fail) at surfing the crowd. Others filled the atmosphere with smoke and a lot of pushing, shoving, hugging and kissing commenced. But the good music overcame the awkward and bad. The day was not fazed either way, regardless of the weather. The event itself was truly blessings on blessings on blessings.
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