Marquette Radio’s Spring Concert took place on April 25 at what many students like to call the “SHAMU,” the grassy area in between the Alumni Memorial Union and Schroeder Hall.
After MUR’s fall concert “Radio Roulette,” the judges determined Chicago-based band Rotundos would co-headline the show with Marquette student band, Beauty Filter.
Because Indie-Soul artist *Aya received the most audience votes during Radio Roulette and artist NileXNile was the MUR staff’s pick, both were chosen to return to campus to perform as well.
The show was faced with some cold weather but as the different acts kept playing their music, more and more students trickled in to see the different performances.
There were no judges for the Spring Concert, only the chance for the public to enjoy music of various different genres for free.
Ellie Nelsen-Freund, junior in the College of Arts & Sciences, said she appreciated seeing different bands performing original music.
“It’s really fun to see these up-and-coming bands perform original music, it’s really exciting,” Nelsen-Freund said.
Taking the stage first was *Aya who said that since Radio Roulette, she has been working on writing new music, finding inspiration and trying to maintain creative motivation.
“My music is really for people who want relatability and who have a lot of growing to do, for young adults mostly. College students are the perfect audience for that,” *Aya said. “I made a couple of new buddies and enjoyed a few sets.”
Since his last performance on campus, NileXNile said he has been working on a second album and booking shows for the summer. NileXNile took the stage second and performed some classics from his discography as well as some new, unreleased music to test out the crowd’s reaction.
“Creating new experiences with listeners is always amazing to me. You never know who likes your music,” NilexNile said.
NileXNile also said he wasn’t sure how informed the student body was at first of the concert, but after a while, people started rallying in once they heard the music around campus.
After NileXNile’s performance, the first headlining act of the night, Rotundos took the stage.
Rotundos had the crowd moving with their high-energy punk sound and even had listeners moshing to some of their songs. The band also played hits from their discography, including their song “Moving Day.”
The last headliners, rock band Beauty Filter, closed out the night with their set.
Since Beauty Filter is a student band, they had a lot of support from friends and family around campus who came out to see their first campus show.
Beauty Filter is made up of Matthew Poulton, first-year in the College of Communications and bassist, Ethan Bailey, first-year in the College of Communications and drummer and Tom Oeffling, sophomore in the College of Education and vocalist and guitarist.
Bailey said that he was really happy with the turnout – both crowd and performance wise — at this year’s concert.
“I had a hard time on the first song due to the temperature but after that, I warmed up and had a great time,” Bailey said.
Having seen these artists once before at Radio Roulette, the crowd knew what to expect, while still being surprised at what each performer contributed this time around.
“It’s cool especially as a first year, I definitely didn’t picture playing at something school affiliated in my first year,” Poulton said.
This story was written by Sofía Cortés. She can be reached at [email protected].
