Out of all the traditions of Drexel University, Homecoming week must be one of the most special ones. It is a good way for current and new students to learn and experience new things. One way they can do both is at Homecoming week’s bonfire event.
The bonfire happens on Race Street Lawn, and there are also outdoor fire pits where students can toast marshmallows and chat. “I think it’s a good time to get together and have good school spirit,” says Emma Hobby, a second-year Marketing major and a dance team member.
It is also a place to relax and get together with other students after a long day of classes, given that it happens on the first day of the second week of the winter quarter. “It’s fun and makes me feel connected to everyone,” says Abby Choy, a first-year Mechanical Engineering student. Abby also thinks that this event is “very exciting” to kick off Homecoming week.
Aside from what people can do at the bonfire, it is a good way for students to learn what Homecoming week is about. “Homecoming in a few words to me is about reconnecting with students after winter break and reestablishing that Drexel pride and to engage school spirit during the winter,” says Kaitlyn Delengowski, the director of special events for Enrollment Management and Student Success. This week she wants students to show how “we have pride in our fellow dragons.”
“We have window decorating in the rec lobby, Quizzo happening in PISB 120 and an assortment of basketball game tennis matches, wrestling matches, on Homecoming weekend,” says Delengowski. It is important to attend given that as Drexel University continues to grow as a university there is a need to keep traditions alive so that its spirit stays active, which makes attendance at these events critical.
It is not just student life involved in making this event happen but also the dance team who did a routine at the bonfire in the dark to boost morale. For Eliza Covello, another dance team member and second-year Marketing student, “This is a really good bonding experience for our team.” Covello thinks that performing at the event is “a lot of fun especially being a part of the dance team and that we get to perform at all the events and be a part of the game.”
Further, this event kicks off a bunch of other university-spirit-filled events during Homecoming Week.
There are many special week-long events at Drexel University and Homecoming Week is one of them. What is special about this week is that first-time students have a chance to express their newly found school spirit while upperclassmen can feel reconnected to it and still feel like they are a part of this college and what better way to fan the flame for it at the Homecoming week bonfire celebration.
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Drexel University’s men’s tennis team have finished their first half of the season, and are looking to come out strong in the second half. They’ll start with a string of home matches at the Vidas Courts, against Old Dominion, Villanova and Saint Francis on Jan. 21, 27 and 29, respectively.
With three new players for the 2022-23 season, and four returning graduate students, the Dragons have a strong squad ready to take on the second half of the season.
A standout performance in the latter half of 2022 came from graduate transfer student, Daniel Dudockin. In November’s Dragon Invitational, Dudockin won all of the six matches he participated in. The Dragons overpowered their opponents that weekend, winning 12 of 20 singles matches.
Dudockin’s impressive weekend earned him a spot as ‘Dragon of the Week,’ an award given to the male and female student-athletes who showed the most impressive performance of the week.
Dudockin transferred into Drexel as a graduate student, using the last of his college eligibility to compete as a Dragon. His previous collegiate career was at Nevada University.
Other standout performances came from sophomore Alan Jeudason and junior Alex De Sousa, who both made it into the third day of action at the ITA Regionals. Jesudason advanced in both the singles and the doubles, with De Sousa as his partner.
In the singles, Jesudason was defeated in three sets to his opponent from Cornell, 6-4, 3-6, 6-1. As a doubles team, De Sousa and Jesudason were eliminated in an 8-4 loss.
Jesudason also earned himself a ‘Dragon of the Week’ award in October for his performances at the ITA All-American tournament. He made it as far as the round of 64, the third round of the tournament.
The Dragons have just announced two new players to their spring roster. Egor Kirakosov from Russia and Pierre Humayou from France will both be joining the team before their first match-up of the year on Jan 21 against Old Dominion.
As for the upcoming second-half of the season, the Dragons will be looking to get some big wins against teams such as Lehigh University, Temple University, Penn State University and Hofstra University.
The Dragons will round out their season with the CAA Championships, held in Williamsburg, Virginia, due to run through April 26-30.
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Melvin “Mel” Singleton, Drexel’s new chief of police and vice president of public safety, officially began his position on November 14, 2022. A 28-year police veteran who most recently served as second-in-command to Philadelphia Police Department Commissioner Danielle Outlaw, he was hired by Drexel following a nationwide search for a leader to help deal with the uptick in crime Drexel’s campus has seen in recent months. The Triangle checked in with Chief Singleton to ask about his time on the job and his plans for the department. This interview was edited for clarity.
Christian DeBrady:So I’d like to start off by getting an idea of your motivation, both for coming to Drexel and for following a career as an officer for almost 30 years now.
MS: Let me start with why I decided to become a cop. I had an experience where I was on a SEPTA bus. I was coming from work, I was about 16 years old and I watched a woman who reminded me of my mother get robbed at 52nd and Market Street. It was nighttime, and I actually leaned forward because I saw her literally about to get on the bus. It was a strong arm, yanked at the pocketbook until she fell and he got it from her. And I thought to myself, “Chase him? Don’t chase him?” until he was too far to catch. I never got off the bus, I actually froze. And I felt like a coward. I felt like… I wanted to do something about it. It impacted me in that I wanted to do something to stop people from just harming anyone when they feel like it, and that stayed with me for a long time. I have to tell you that over the course of my life as I got older, I lost sight of that. I didn’t become a police officer until I was 25 years old, and I saw that when I was 16, so, it took me some years until I was able to take that step into becoming a police officer as I was going through college and other priorities. So, my motivation to be a police officer is having the ability to positively impact the community by keeping folks safe. I think I’m a born protector, and so for me that’s what it’s about. Also, when I got older and I got on the job it became about having my voice in the room. Why I went up the ranks is because I realized that as an officer, my voice was not in the decision-making room, and it was necessary because folks in the community needed to have representation in those rooms. I tell young people all the time, we need diversity in our departments, because if we are represented then any decision can come out of that. And even with voices in the room mistakes are made, maybe with good intentions but mistakes are made. So I’m motivated to protect and also to represent the voice of the community.
As for Drexel, to be honest with you, I was not sure I would apply. I started reading about Drexel; someone brought to my attention that Drexel was looking for a new Chief and Vice President of Public Safety. So I started reading about their equity-inclusive culture, I started reading about the fact that they promote civic engagement within the communities and actually do work in that area. And I’m thinking to myself, “I’m a community guy.” When I was in the 19th District I actually did a lot of community work. I got into the community and got to know them. Got to know my cops, partnered with them and problem-solved, cleaned up lots, cleaned up blocks. The whole of Lansdowne Avenue in my tenure in the 19th District used to be a war zone full of drug dealing and shootings. By the time I left there after five years, I got a little emotional because kids were riding up and down the block with their bikes and playing, and none of that had still existed there when I started. I saw the power of working with the community. Community work is important for cops, I think when we stray away from that partnership with the community is when we’re going in the wrong direction. My push is going in that direction, and when I also read the 21CP Solutions Report, all of it pointed to needing to get back to the community. So I decided to apply because that’s something that I’ve done and would like to continue doing.
CD:So in light of the involvement that you want with the community, how do you plan to make sure that your work is transparent both to members of the surrounding community and Drexel students?
MS: It starts with understanding that in every facet of police work, the community voice should be included. If I’m working on a new policy, first we’ll look at it internally, but once we have it internally I’m going to bring it to the community. The oversight committee that was formed is a good cross-section of the community, but it’s not robust enough for me. I asked them, “Yeah you’re an oversight committee to the Drexel University Police Department, but can you help me in expanding when we need to bring in more community?” And I mean community from students and staff as well. Can we expand that if I want to go over policies that directly impact the community? Pursuit policies, use-of-force policies, I have done it. When I was the first deputy, we went over our use-of-force policies with the community and we would get feedback, stuff that I would have never thought of, even as a career police officer. Some of our wording and thought processes were changed because community members were pointing things out to us that we could tweak to make them less offensive or scary. So, bringing them in is key for policy, and training.
We want to involve the community in training, and the oversight committee is going to be my gateway, because I think that’s a good group that can feed the community and their wants into it. And I’m going to be trying to meet folks in the community. Like the community groups, student body groups, everybody. I’m going to work through them until I get to larger groups and I can maybe start having partnerships on my own. So it’s important having community voices embedded in training, policy writing, deployment strategies.
One of the things we have done in policing, when I mentioned the concept of making mistakes, was that if there was a crime pattern we would come up with a deployment strategy and send a bunch of cops down there. We didn’t tell the community that they’re coming, we did not ask the community what they wanted or needed, none of that. Now I have the opportunity to bring some community in and say, “Listen we see a pattern here, I’m thinking about doing this, what do you think about it?” And so that is also transparency, and community buy-in because they are helping me form the plan, they know the plan is coming, all that stuff helps you with transparency and it force multiplies us because if the community is buying into your plan, it can help with extra eyes and ears. I’m not trying to get anyone in the community exposed to the point where they’re in danger, but eyes and ears is something that always multiplies police departments. So from that standpoint, just to be clear–in policy, deployment, training, all the aspects of police work–bring the community’s voice in. It is a complicated process, but it’s one that has to be done and it’s one that I am willing to do.
CD:Thank you for such a comprehensive overview. Another question that goes into that, which I am sure you had to deal with during your time in the Philadelphia Police Department, is how have you led your organization to deal with criticism of their actions from the public?
MS: So I like to be transparent and truthful. As a police chief, you hope that when you are building relationships with the public, they trust what you’re telling them. So if an officer makes a mistake or does something outside of our policy, I am going to say it. We have policy and procedures for a reason, we train officers in that and we expect them to function within that training. If they step outside of that, I am going to say, “Yeah we’re going to conduct an investigation,” because we have to have some sort of due process and be up front with the public about it. There’s no reason to try to hide it, delay it; tell the truth. I will make sure that officers who are guilty of wrongdoing are dealt with in an appropriate manner. So that is something that I will do and I have done my whole career. Anyone who knows me knows that I have no problem with making sure that officers are properly disciplined for their actions, especially if they are stepping outside of what they are supposed to do.
CD:I would like to shift gears a little here; you have been in your role at Drexel for about two months now. What are your initial thoughts on Drexel’s Public Safety and police department, and what are some ways you think you could see it improve?
MS: First, there are a lot of good people here. I have been introducing myself; I went to every roll call and met every one of my cops and dispatchers, the surrounding vice presidents and their staff, introducing myself to everyone. I have been meeting students as best as I can, and there are just a lot of good people here, that is what I am learning about Drexel University. A lot of good, kind-hearted, well-intentioned people.
The police department has some challenges. One, if you want to embed yourself into the community, you need time to do it. Right now, our calls for service have increased by 200 percent, crimes like robberies have gone up from like two in 2020 to twenty-seven in 2022, which is a significant increase. If you think about it, if you want to problem-solve with the community, you need to have enough officers to be visible and to deal with the crime that’s plaguing us, but I don’t want a specialized task force to engage the community. I want any one of my officers that I choose to go greet, meet, talk to and get to know the community. That way, if community members voice a problem, they can sit down and form a problem-solving partnership with the community, whatever community that is. It could be students or it could be the outside community, as long as they have time to work with them and fix that. But to do that, we’re going to have to grow to some level with this university because there is a lot of building and population growth going on. I do not mean we have to grow dramatically, just enough that we can properly police and properly engage with the community, and we need to have enough cops to do it. I do not want to just say it; we actually need the resources and people to make it happen.
CD:In that vein, what long-term goals do you have for the department, and what challenges do you anticipate in meeting those?
MS: My long term goals are to make sure that by the time we are in year three or four, our relationship with the community is much stronger. One of the things that I am doing is getting every officer cell phones, because I’m a proponent of giving out my number since it allows you to form information-sharing loops with the community. I hope that we can create a network of the police department with all the communities in which we are all connected. I want the kind of connection where community members know who is on patrol when, and they can call officers to alert them of things happening in the community that they should be looking out for. I think in the case of the young man Everett Beauregard that was killed, the person that killed him was walking around that neighborhood for a while. Now it may not rise to the level of calling the police, but someone in that community could have called me and said, “Someone is walking around here, can you just see what’s going on?” Had a cop gone and asked questions, that could have made the young man leave the area, and we did not have that. So that connectivity protects us all. I do not know if you’ve ever lived in a community that functioned like a village, where each person is a part of it and everyone is looking out for everyone. That kind of connectivity is my long-term goal, to make sure that we’re all connected, from the university to the outside community to the police officers, faculty, and staff; we should all be connected and looking out for one another. I envision it to look like that, and I am looking for any ideas technology-wise or solution-wise; for example, I know we have a Guardian app. The solution doesn’t need to come from me, but I want to know how we get connected in such a way that we can share information, not just about crime but anything.
CD:To build off of that idea of enhancing safety around campus, I feel like I have to ask: What should students be doing to stay safe?
MS: We do a lot of education on self-awareness, situational awareness, self-defense, but I think the most important thing is being aware of your surroundings. I know the crime on this campus is not equal to the crime outside of this campus, and so I see young people with headphones on, on the phone, looking down, but are you aware of what is around you and who is watching you? Self-awareness and where you position yourself, who you are with, is important. If you’re walking at night try to walk in groups, if you are walking by yourself just look around you. Situational and positional awareness will help anyone, it just allows you to get out in front of what’s coming. I know I have had to do it, maybe you have had to do it, but seeing it coming allows you to avoid it.
CD:As you’re speaking to the Drexel community, I have one last question. What do you want them to know about you as a person?
MS: I am someone who feels that policing is my ministry. It is something that I believe I was put here to do. To protect people, to help people, and I care about it. I work very long hours; that’s what they don’t tell you when you take this job, and I work long hours because I care. In order to be a police officer, you have to have a good heart. We have to make sure that when we are hiring, we somehow make sure we can identify those with good hearts. That is how I feel about policing.
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For our first publication in the new year of 2023, we would like to highlight the musical opinions of our Triangle staff.
2022 gave us massive releases from some of the industry’s juggernauts such as Taylor Swift, Kendrick Lamar and Beyoncé, while also certifying all-stars such as Bad Bunny and Harry Styles into superstardom. Talented cusp artists like Steve Lacy and SZA were launched into the mainstream through anticipated albums and enormous singles, while rising acts such as beabadoobee, Noah Kahan and Lizzy McAlpine continued to grow.
In order to qualify for this list, an album or song must’ve been originally released in 2022 in an official style. Deluxe or reissued albums do not qualify, however new songs from them do. Each list is ranked with #1 being the listener’s favorite entry. Only one entry per artist is allowed per each list.
Swedish artist Yung Lean appeared at Franklin Music Hall in Philadelphia, PA on Dec. 6, 2022 as part of his Stardust Tour. Named after Lean’s “Stardust” mixtape released on April 8, 2022, this tour contained nine Europe shows, two Canada shows and six United States shows along with two added stops in Australia in January 2023.
Since his debut in 2013 with the project “Unknown Death 2002,” Lean has been acknowledged as an influential figure in hip hop, specifically the subgenre “Cloud rap.” Like the name implies, this music has hazy, light characteristics while also containing elements of trap beats and electronic hip hop instrumentals.
In the leadup to Lean’s performance, operatic music similar to the famous Halo theme had played throughout the venue, an uncommon twist from the usual hip hop hits you hear in between acts at a rap concert. It was obvious that Lean wanted his shows to be unique in comparison with other concerts that his fans may see.
At 8:58 p.m., the music stopped, the lights went down and a dramatic narration that spoke of “the rise and fall of heroes” began. Four minutes later, Lean burst on to the stage to perform “My Agenda” off of his 2020 album “Starz.” His attire was a large, wizard-esque cloak that turned him into a shadowy figure on stage. The lights were pulsing near the stage floor which made it difficult to make out his appearance from afar. Behind him was an eerie projected image of a house.
Despite the tour being promotion for Lean’s most recent project “Stardust,” his setlist did not contain a single track from the mixtape. Considering his extensive catalog, Lean may have thought that his fans would rather experience the older “classic” songs instead of the newest material, which did experiment with slightly more pop-leaning sounds in songs like “Lips” and “Bliss” with FKA twigs. In the merch area, exclusive physical copies of “Stardust” were sold along with clothing featuring the era’s artwork. Both CD and vinyl copies are hard to find online, and could sell for far above the price on the tour.
Lean would go on to perform more songs from “Starz” such as “Boylife in EU,” “Pikachu” and “Put Me in a Spell.” He performed tracks such as “bender++girlfriend” and “Smirnoff Ice” released in 2018 and 2019. Near the beginning of the show Lean performed a cover of “Diamonds” by Thaiboy Digital, who is a frequent collaborator with Lean along with Drain Gang artists.
Fans in the GA floor were excited throughout the whole show– jumping and throwing shirts into the air periodically. Lean brought the energy in his delivery and presence throughout the set, though occasionally a track would hit a slower section that was more relaxed. During more calm, singing tracks Lean would deliver the whole song live, opting not to shorten his songs’ arrangements very often.
About halfway through the set, he performed the iconic “Ginseng Strip 2002” off of the 2013 EP “Lavender.” While being a defining song throughout Lean’s career, it had an insane resurgence as one of the most popular tracks on TikTok in 2022. It was a highlight of the night to see such an important and influential song performed live. Around this time Lean also played older tracks such as “Hurt,” “Yoshi City,” “Gatorade” and “Ghosttown.”
After a quick break at 9:40 p.m. Lean (in a new, thinner cloak) performed a section of slower songs that began with “Hotel In Minsk,” a track from his 2016 project “Psychopath Ballads” released under the alias jonatan leandoer96. As a play on his birth name Jonatan Aron Leandoer Håstad, “leandoer” has released three projects on streaming services that are distinct from his Yung Lean persona. Following “Hotel,” Lean sang “Put Me in a Spell,” “Leanworld,” “Agony” and “Yellowman” before leaving the stage yet again.
For his final encore, Lean ended the show with “Miami Ultras” from his 2016 album “Warlord.” This was an appropriately loud, messy ending to a show that covered the many sounds of Lean’s career. While it was a bit confusing to not hear any of the namesake songs during this tour stop, it was still an impressive show as Lean proved that he was not afraid to perform long, singing tracks passionately on stage as well as loud, raging rap songs.
(Some of the song identification in this article is courtesy of setlist.fm.)
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The Billboard tracking year for 2022 is officially over. This means that the year-end chart of the biggest hits can be accurately predicted based on the calculations Billboard uses annually to make their infamous chart.
The Billboard Hot 100 chart is calculated using sales, streaming and radio airplay statistics. While sales include physical and online purchases, streaming includes major online platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube. These statistics are weighted differently in an attempt to calculate the most popular songs in the U.S. on any given week.
With this being said, people are able to calculate the charts fairly accurately and predict the year-end positioning for the biggest hits of the Billboard year. While browsing through the Pulse Music Board forums, I found many predictions for the 100 biggest hits of 2022 made by using formulas similar to Billboard’s. Based on charts from the users mikerivera, PositivityMaster48 and rockgolf, I have determined my list for the top 5 best hit songs of the year, according to the predicted Billboard Hot 100 songs of 2022. I will also be listing the peak position on the weekly charts throughout the tracking year for each song.
This track was never in my heavy rotation, however, this contributed to my enjoyment of the song in the long term since it is still fresh to my ears. I am always partial to a question-hook and a memorably melancholy piano line. This song pays bittersweet homage to one of the most untimely passings of the 2020s.
I am nervous while typing these words because “Light Switch” has become my biggest “guilty pleasure” song in a long time and I try not to have one of those. Why should liking a song be painful? While the gimmick and double entendre of this song is indeed very embarrassing, Puth proves once again that he can sonically craft a pleasing pop composition through just melody and chords, without an ounce of shame.
As the pop breakthrough of the year, Steve Lacy’s “Bad Habit” is overplayed as hell. However, the power this chorus contained upon its release back in June felt unlimited and it’s just now sputtering out five months later. Whether he wants it or not, Lacy has earned pop-star status without straying far from his original style. Seeing as “Dark Red” also charted in 2022, it would have happened eventually.
This was Silk Sonic’s crowning achievement, blending both Bruno Mars’s and Anderson .Paak’s strengths better than any other track on their project. While working in the bounds of “retro” styles can be difficult to retain your character, “Smokin” managed to sound original. The swells of emotion throughout the track feel balanced with the small amount of humor in the verses. I believe Silk Sonic’s legacy does not need a sequel after a performance like this.
I first discovered this song at my summer job scooping ice cream in 2021, as it would occasionally come on our playlist. Luckily I took note of the title and began listening to it, not knowing what was about to happen with season four of Stranger Things. The way this song sounds is not out of place amongst new music, proving how insanely ahead of its time this production was. It is an epic track even without the visuals and it performed the unthinkable by having longevity on the Hot 100–a whole 37 years after its release.
Along with my favorite hit songs of 2022, I would also like to quickly highlight my choices for the top 3 worst hits.
I feel bad picking on a young artist like GAYLE, but this chorus is unbearably corny and slow. This is the worst result of blackbear’s “do re mi” success so far.
I have not heard this track many times, but from the single cover to the concept of this collaboration, to the overall sound, “Broadway Girls” feels dark, creepy and gross. Lil Durk has now made the best and the worst list for 2022.
This song has clearly cemented itself as the worst hit of the decade for me. How it achieved its longevity is astonishing to me, since there is not a single thing I enjoy about this track. It is a completely unfunny joke that was somehow bought into by the public and allowed to nearly top the Hot 100.
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Channel Tres performed on Oct. 11 at Underground Arts in Philadelphia, Pa. for the tenth stop of his eponymous tour. The show featured support from Toronto-based artist, Rochelle Jordan, an R&B/dance artist who recently released her first album since 2014.
Channel Tres, (birth name Sheldon Young), released a seven-track project titled “refresh” on March 2, 2022. Tres then dropped a double-sided single later in March and two songs in July and September that appear to be for another project, hence an identical cover. This year has been busy for him, also appearing alongside Shygirl on Mura Masa’s “hollaback bitch,” on Honey Dijon’s project “Show Me Some Love” and Tove Lo’s “Dirt Femme” project.
The dark, moody night club setting of Underground Arts was very fitting for both Jordan and Tres’s aesthetics. The show started later than anticipated with Rochelle Jordan coming on stage around 8:45 p.m., a full hour later than scheduled. As the opener, Jordan got the crowd bouncing with dark, four-on-the-floor beats and hypnotic dancing. Both her and her DJ were dressed in deconstructed, industrial inspired clothing.
Jordan’s second song of the set, “All Along” from her second album “Play With The Changes,” was highly anticipated by the crowd. People were slowly dancing in the moving green, blue and purple lights. Jordan and her DJ were adding to the club-like atmosphere by wearing jet-black sunglasses, thigh-high boots and black leather gloves. Jordan’s sweet cashmere-like voice was mesmerizing with songs such as “Situation” and “Dancing Elephants” making people sing the lyrics from start to finish. Lots of sparkles, lots of glitter and lots of colors were seen inside Underground Arts.
The time gap in between felt extra long, as stagehands darted around preparing the area for Tres. A raised platform with two steps on each side was placed in the back center of the stage, and a mic stand was readied on top of it. The headlining act began as four dancers appeared on the small stage in the darkness before Tres made his entrance.
The dancers, credited on Instagram as Nique27, Jessie Hollie, Chris Castillo and Sasha Mallory would occasionally synchronize with Tres in choreography which was pleasing to watch and impressively executed in such limited space. During the first two tracks, Tres primarily stayed atop the small platform behind the mic stand, but he would quickly find his way to the front of the stage. Tres and the dancers’ matching outfits made the whole performance look completely fluid, without any unnecessary breaks. Their silver crop tops and silver gloves were constantly shining in the bright green strobe lights.
His setlist ranged from early tracks to unreleased tracks. Tres stated that multiple songs were from a new project, but unfortunately not giving any more info than that. He performed “Jet Black” and “Controller” from his self-titled 2018 EP, “Sexy Black Timberlake,” “Brilliant” and “Black Moses” from the 2019 EP “Black Moses” and his 2020 single “Weedman.” Before this track, he asked the crowd “Did they legalize weed out here yet?” Disappointed with the answer, he responded “That’s a damn shame.”
Three of the four 2022 singles were performed, these being “Acid In My Blood,” “Just Can’t Get Enough” and “No Limit.” Tres played three unreleased songs, two of which do not appear to exist online yet. According to a paper copy of the setlist they are titled “Big Time” and “All Friends”, the latter featuring a refrain of “I wanna see all my friends at once.” During the encore he would play “6AM,” which was referenced in an article by Vman published in July 2022.
Tres did not omit his most popular track “Topdown”, eventually closing the encore with it. He also played three of his collaborations, “fuego” with Tyler, The Creator, “Impact” with SG Lewis & Robyn and “Lights Up” with Flight Facilities.
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Genre-bending musician Jean Dawson performed at The Foundry in Philadelphia, Pa., on Oct. 29 with support from LA-based rock group Junior Varsity. Dawson is currently on a 24-stop North American tour fresh off of his newest album “CHAOS NOW*,” released Oct. 7.
As The Fillmore’s smaller addition, The Foundry provided the audience with an intimate setting to experience this show. With only one opening act, the night was concise and energetic. Throughout Junior Varsity’s time on stage fans were moshing and shouting to their songs. This pairing of acts makes a lot of sense if you look at Spotify; they currently occupy top spots on each other’s pages in the “Fans also like” sections.
Junior Varsity performed with two electric guitars, one electric bass, a drum kit and a vocalist (Greg Aram), who actively covered the stage and made the most of his lengthy mic cable. He also appeared to have some sort of auto-tune control on stage that could be toggled in for artistic effect during parts of their songs.
At 9:03 p.m., Dawson’s band took the stage and the lights dimmed. Similar to that of Junior Varsity, the band consisted of two electric guitars, a drummer and a bass player who also played synth bass occasionally throughout the set. Once Dawson appeared on stage he was suited in a brown oversized poncho jacket, thick white and gray pants and the classic Navy Vans Old Skools. His blonde hair peeked out from underneath his colorful stocking cap and hood.
Dawson’s mic was an interesting component of his stage presence. It was clamped to the end of a short red mic stand which he carried with him during the whole show. Dawson used it like a boom mic to point at the crowd and amplify their voices, although it didn’t make much of an audible difference.
The first half of the show was filled with notable tracks such as “Devilish” and “Triple Double” from his sophomore album “Pixel Bath,” the latter of which is an A$AP Rocky-accompanied single. From his newest album he performed hits “PORN ACTING*” and “THREE HEADS*” before delving into the album’s deeper cuts.
During the first two tracks, two fans (one in Yoshi costume) began crowd surfing which prompted the staff to quickly discourage this behavior. Despite Dawson’s less interactive style of stage presence, the crowd brought the chaos his tour and album suggested. His emotional vocal delivery was often hard to understand, making it difficult to connect directly with his personality and more with his overall image.
Other tracks from “CHAOS NOW*”, such as “0 HEROES*,” “GLORY*” and “PIRATE RADIO*” were played, and for a select few one of the guitar players switched to an acoustic guitar to fit the studio versions of the tracks. Before “POSITIVE ONE NEGATIVE ONE*” Dawson stated that this track was his favorite from the new album, which surprised some fans who expected fan favorite “BAD FRUIT*” to be played. In spite of being his most popular track on Spotify currently, this song was left off the set list completely. One possible reason for this could be the stripped-back nature of the track, which cinematically builds from mellow acoustic guitar into a string arrangement, then falling away to feature the elusive Earl Sweatshirt in uncharacteristic form, singing vulnerably over the atmospheric instrumental. That being said, Sweatshirt would not have been available to provide his crucial part each night on the tour.
The last two songs of the night were early hit “Power Freaks” and “Ghost*,” the second being an Apple Music exclusive track written for their Juneteenth “Freedom Songs” collection in 2021. The set capped off at 10:04 p.m., and fans flocked to the back of the venue to pick up merchandise. Both acts had clothing available, although no physical albums were on sale. The CHAOS NOW* tour continues its high-energy action through mid-November, ending on the 18th at The Roxy in Los Angeles.
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The Philadelphia show featured four supporting acts: Deniro Farrar, PlayThatBoiZay, redveil, and AG Club. The opening sets combined for a rough total of two hours before Curry arrived on stage just past 10:30 p.m. Throughout the night, the openers joined each other’s sets on multiple occasions to perform songs that they had collaborated on previously.
The fan favorite of the openers appeared to be redveil, who’s youthful charisma was easy for audiences to latch on to. The Triangle was able to briefly speak with him while he was meeting fans at his merch table throughout the night. When asked what song we should look forward to seeing during Curry’s performance, he simply responded “Ultimate.”
Curry led off his set with the first two tracks off of his “Melt My Eyez” album, “Melt Session #1” and “Walkin,” the latter currently being his most popular song on Spotify. The stage had minimal props; only a DJ table and projected visuals appeared while most of the character was brought by Curry himself. His stage presence was confident and comedic, from scolding someone who threw their phone on stage to placing someone’s “tittyholders” on his hair.
The set list continued to promote tracks from the new album like “Worst Come to Worst,” “The Last,” “Mental,” “Troubles” and “Ain’t No Way.” Following these he delved into his older catalog with songs like “BLACK BALLOONS,” “SPEEDBOAT,” “SUMO” and my personal favorite “WISH.” Curry also claimed the song “This Life” to be his favorite track off of his album “Imperial,” and “X-Wing” to be his favorite track off of “Melt My Eyez” (which I would have to agree with.)
Before beginning the track “Ultimate,” Curry spent a few minutes attempting to force the entire GA floor to crouch down. Once the iconic chorus dropped, it was aware why redveil had bluntly revealed it to be his favorite to see performed. The crowd jumped up to see AG Club, redveil, Deniro Farrar and others on stage alongside Curry hyping up the track.
He went on to play his hits “CLOUT COBAIN” and “RICKY” and eventually ended the show with the closing track of his newest album titled “The Ills.” But, of course, an encore was demanded and his early hit “ULT” was performed. He then promptly ended the show by throwing “balls of energy” at the crowd with the help of everyone’s cheers. It was a fitting ending to a wild, animated show.
Lucy Dacus’ show at Franklin Music Hall on Sept. 29 was an entertaining experience. This was the first show of the tour and it made the performance that much more special. Dacus’ live performance reached the same level of talent displayed in her records.
This show was a rescheduled date from the original concert that got rained out at the Mann Center. The rain reportedly ruined a lot of the band’s equipment.
Before Dacus took the stage, a band called Crooks and Nannies opened the set. Their stage presence was alluring and the overall sentiment was lighthearted and fun. The lead singers’ vocals were unique. Additionally, I really enjoyed that the drummer sang a few songs. I liked Crooks and Nannies so much that I made my way back to the merch table on my way out because I just had to have a t-shirt.
I have added Crooks and Nannies to my playlist and I highly recommend checking them out. With less than 1000 Instagram followers (underrated in my opinion), they are an up-and-coming act to look out for — yet you wouldn’t know that based on how comfortable they are performing and how good their discography is.
Dacus took to the stage after what felt like a very long intermission. One thing that built excitement and had the crowd “awwing” over and over was a projected compilation of home video clips that played repeatedly until the band was ready to perform. These were wholesome clips of Dacus from her as a newborn all the way until what looked like a few years ago. It was a nice way to start the show and added to the theme of her album “Home Video.”
That being said, most of the songs she played were from her newest album, as was expected. However she did play some unexpected songs and even took two requests from the crowd which I thought was very thoughtful.
There were many memorable moments throughout the night. “Addictions” obviously led to super high energy from the crowd because of its popularity and it was super fun. It was easy to hear everyone scream-singing along which is always a highlight.
Some of my favorite songs were played: such as “VBS,” “Yours and Mine” and “Brando,” which I thoroughly enjoyed for obvious reasons. Next, Dacus played “Thumbs,” which threw everyone into an emotional wreck, but she picked us all back up when she did a cutesy sing a long session to “Going, Going, Gone.” It was a nice breather after emotions were running high.
The next song I did not expect at all, but it made me so happy. I think I actually jumped up and down and squealed once I realized what it was. Dacus played one of my all time favorite songs “I Don’t Want to Be Funny Anymore” and I loved every single second of it.
Towards the end of the show Dacus asked the crowd “Is anyone here gay?” and a majority of the crowd’s hand shot in the air (myself included of course). She followed up by saying “I asked that same question in Europe and almost no one raised their hands and I was wondering where all they gays were…I guess they were all in Philly.”
She continued by playing “Kissing Lessons” where all the gay fans sang their hearts out. It was an experience unlike any other. The music video to the song was projected above her as well which only added to the ambiance.
Finally, Dacus played the song we were all waiting for “Night Shift.” I cannot physically put into words how amazing this was. The crowd danced, jumped and screamed. It had such high energy even though the song is tragic. Dacus had announced it was the last song and she walked off stage.
She didn’t trick anyone as we all knew she’d be back for an encore. She came back out for two more songs. The first one was a cover of “Home Again,” originally by Carole King.
Towards the end of the concert Dacus played an unreleased song. She asked everyone to not record and said “If you see anyone trying to record, then physical assault is allowed,” — jokingly, of course. It was an intimate moment between Dacus and the crowd. It allowed everyone to simply be present without distractions. The song was also incredible and might even be my favorite Lucy Dacus song. I can’t wait for its release.
