The spirit of homecoming weekend provided a great atmosphere for the cover band Giants of Science.Their concert on Friday, September 18 was the perfect form of entertainment to pick things up as the food trucks were starting to close up shop and the excitement of the fireworks was fading away.

The band introduced themselves as a college cover band and immediately jumped into their first cover, Simple Minds’ “Don’t You (Forget About Me).” The song instantly inspired students who had been hanging back around the bonfire to move closer to the stage, and a brave group of people were the first to start dancing. The band was high energy and the light show on stage livened up the entire atmosphere.

Their set consisted of well-known songs that everyone in the audience could almost immediately identify and start singing along to. Songs that seemed the most popular with the crowd included Soft Cell’s “Tainted Love,” Third Eye Blind’s “Jumper,” blink-182’s “All The Small Things” and Modern English’s “I Melt With You.”

Many alums brought their families to enjoy this family friendly concert. Children started joining the dance floor and were really enjoying dancing to these classic songs. A mixture of current Colgate students, alumni and their families could enjoy this concert equally.

The concert wasn’t the most heavily attended event but the students and families who were there thoroughly enjoyed it.

“The concert was fantastic, it was an excellent time for everyone who attended,” sophomore William Boyd said.

The band covered more songs that that everyone knows and loves. A highlight of the entire set was the band’s rendition of Neal Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline.” Those sitting on the field by the fire and dancing right by the stage were swaying to the music. The crowd even shouted passionately to add the classic “ba-ba-ba” during every chorus.

Although the band stuck to covers of popular songs, they did cover somewhat of a range of genres in their selection and did an impressive job in doing so. “I thought the band did a nice of job of taking popular ‘80s and ‘90s songs and covering them in a way that not only sounded strikingly similar to the originals, but also made them their own by adding certain vocal progressions that were not part of the original songs. Overall, I thought they did a wicked good job,” first-year Audrey Swift said.

While it isn’t always easy to draw a large attendance from college students on a Friday night, those who did decide to come out to the concert were given quality entertainment and the opportunity to have a great time with friends to the sound of some high energy hits. The concert was a great ending to a fun night full of homecoming activities.