Musical artist Discolines headlined the 2024 Springfest Concert on Saturday, April 27. Colgate University’s DJ and Music Production Club (DJ Club) played as the opener. The concert was sponsored by 21 organizations on campus, who came together to organize the event after a Jan. 18 email announcement from GetInvolved that there would be no large concert for this year’s Springfest.
The Springfest concert this year was different from previous years, as the committee typically responsible for the concert planning changed. The Student Government Association (SGA) president and vice president — senior Jonathan Eaton and sophomore Harshitha Talasila, respectively — explained that SGA took on more of the planning burden than usual this year.
“The principal contacts for the Springfest concert were the DJ Club and the SGA,” Eaton said. “This differed from previous years insofar as the Springfest Committee, an application-based group consisting of students and members of the administration, usually bore the responsibility for a concert.”
Following an initial announcement to the student body regarding the absence of a Springfest concert this year, the DJ and Music Production Club offered a proposal that would involve a concert.
“The DJ Club came to the SGA with a proposal after the campus expressed its frustration with not hosting a concert,” Talasila said. “The SGA supported that proposal, as it appeared to represent the student body’s desire for a Springfest weekend concert.”
SGA supported the proposal through means of financial contributions and facilitating logistical arrangements.
“[This support] aligned with the SGA’s support in past concerts, albeit slightly modified to fit a new time frame and artist,” Eaton said.
The concert began at 7:30 p.m. on Whitnall Field. Various food trucks offered food and beverages to students. The DJ and Music Production Club occupied the stage for the first hour and a half, drawing in a small crowd of students. They performed remixes of popular songs, such as “Murder on the Dancefloor” by Sophie Ellis-Bextor, “Habits (Stay High)” by Tove Lo and “Where Are You” by Hayla and John Summit.
Senior and co-president of the DJ and Music Production Club Everett Graves commented on the music styles he picked out for his set.
“I tried to think about what music we wanted to play, which was generally more intense house stuff, and then tried to balance that knowing the audience was a bunch of college students who prefer songs with words in them,” Graves said. “So the challenge became trying to combine those two styles.”The other co-president of the DJ and Music Production Club, senior Alex Schade, offered insight into the club’s preparation process ahead of the concert night.
“Preparation was a grind. [Graves] and I mixed songs every night and tested out which ones we wanted to play,” Schade said. “For first 30 minutes of the opening, we did a competition and a bunch of people submitted sets which was really cool — everyone had their own style.”
First-year Christina Harrah was impressed by the DJ and Music Production Club’s opening performance, despite having never heard them play before.
“I was pleasantly surprised by the opener. I never knew Colgate had a DJ and Music [Production] Club, but I really enjoyed their set,” Harrah said. “They did a good job keeping the energy up, even without great turnout.”
Discolines took the stage around 9 p.m. as the crowd began to grow. Students danced and enjoyed the concert as Discolines performed a variety of original songs as well as remixes.
First-year Bella Nalli found Discolines’ performance entertaining and valued the inclusion of a concert into Springfest.
“I really liked the concert and I think he did a great job,” Nalli said. “It was really fun. I think the concert is such an integral part of Springfest and I’m glad we had one this year.”
Despite a change in the organization of this year’s Springfest concert, musical artist Discolines still drew in a variety of students for a crowded show.
