At 8 p.m. on Saturday January 31, students formed a large crowd inside Donovan’s Pub to see hip-hop a cappella group Kazual perform. The band was looking fly and ready to take the stage sporting all-black outfits and red converse.

“I had big expectations for Kazual… and they definitely exceeded my hopes. They all glowed with passion and personality and were extremely talented. I think everybody in the audience had a great time because they really got everyone involved,” sophomore Lauren Pitzer said.

After a few abrupt soundchecks, the band began the concert with one of their original songs “Bounce.” We were immediately introduced to Ejae, Dmac, a notorious Will Smith look-alike, Lil Gabe and Playboi. Kazual recently made it into the top 40 contestants on “America’s Got Talent,” and their performances proved just how good they are. 

“The show was a lot of fun. I loved their dance moves and the group had great energy,” sophomore Allie Nyer said.

The band continued their performance with hits by Sam Smith, “Jealous” by Nick Jonas, and even “My Girl” by the Temptations. By this time in the night, the whole audience was grooving and Donovan’s was full of energy. Kazual sang another one of their hit original songs and even performed some well-choreographed dance moves to go along with it. 

“I didn’t know what to expect but I was pleasantly surprised with the Kazual concert. I thought they interacted well with the crowd and it’s song renditions were unique, which made it more interesting,” sophomore Ellen Hutchinson said. 

After a brief but shameless Twitter plug, the band continued its performance with a wonderful classic rendition of The Satins’ “In the Still of the Night” that was a hit with the professors in the audience. Kazual performed “Let Me Love You” by Mario for all those hopeless romantics, as well as a brief happy birthday “Kazual style” for the January babies in the crowd. After high-fiving almost every member of the audience, the show continued with a couple  country songs including, “Wanted” by Hunter Hayes and “What Hurts the Most” by Rascal Flatts. They rounded off the performance with a medley of boy band songs featuring bands like The Backstreet Boys, N’sync and Boyz II Men. Finally, they sang one of their original songs, “Her Way.” After a classic game of matching a trait to the group member, the show concluded. The final song, “Trap Queen” by Fetty Wap, was really high energy and brought the audience to a loud ovation. After one too many “make some noise” exclamations, Kazual finished it’s performance with an intergroup choreographed dance of sorts. Kazual really lived up to the audience’s expectations, making the concert a huge success. The ability to weave personality and involvement into their performances made the event a superb way to kick off Saturday evening festivities.