At least 800 Colgate University students showed up to the Palace Theatre in downtown Hamilton last Thursday, February 20, to hear some DJs mix their music. Five students competed in a Campus DJ competition before the main act, Cash Cash, came on.  Of these initial performers, three are Colgate University students and two are Syracuse University students.

The Colgate performers, in order, were sophomore Matt Zelak, junior Cedric Mayer and senior Jordan Gorelick. Gorelick won the Campus DJ event for upstate New York, advancing to the next competition on April 4 on Bounce Boat yacht in Manhattan for a chance to head to Los Angeles and be named “America’s Best College DJ.”

“It was a blast to play for such an energetic and engaging crowd,” Gorelick said. 

The building was high energy all night, starting around 9:30 p.m. as Gorelick mixed his set. Gorelick has since recorded his winning set, which can be found on his “DJ Lick” SoundCloud page.    

Cash Cash followed the amateur DJs with a performance of their own. Cash Cash came on around 9:45 p.m. and the trio was greeted by screaming students from across all grades. Cash Cash opened with a quick mix of “Take Me Home” and returned to the single version of this hit to close out the show.

“There’s a lot of ups and downs, but this is our year, it feels good,” Cash Cash DJ Jean Paul Makhlouf said. Cash Cash as a group have been coming into their own within the last year, especially with the release of their Overtime EP and other popular remixes.

Cash Cash  and the other DJs worked hard to keep the audience engaged beyond just the music, running along the edge of the stage and asking for audience to yell and sway at several points throughout the show. Some of the highlights came as the DJs sprayed water out onto much of the crowd at two different points.

“I thought [the Colgate crowd] was an A+,” Makhlouf said. “It’s a party, it’s the place to be apparently.”

Students seemed to have a similar feeling about the show.

“This was a great experience because my friends and I all love ‘Take Me Home,’ but Cash Cash really demonstrated why they’re more than a one hit wonder,” sophomore Sam Quinan said. “I think they were actually surprised by the crowd’s response to their mixes, but especially by how Colgate responds to ‘Take Me Home.'”

Their ability to spin some remixes of other popular electronic dance music songs helped keep the audience engaged as well, with the show ending at 11:30 p.m.

This Campus DJ and Cash Cash concert was brought about by the Colgate Activities Board (CAB).  The music executives for CAB – junior Sarah Rende, senior Brandon Fiegoli and senior Alex Fisch – were in charge of working with Chegg, Monster and Campus DJ to make this event a huge success at no cost for students.

Cash Cash delivered one of – if not the – biggest non-Spring Party Weekend music concerts in Hamilton this school year.

“We had to turn 200 people away at the door, so we look forward to doing more events like this in the future!” Rende said.

Contact Luke Parauda at [email protected].