First Student Concert of Many for WWC Spring Semester
Tyson Lewis | February 10, 2022
Special to The Echo
Hijinks performing for a crowd of WWC students.
At roughly 6:30 p.m. on February 5, Bryson was set up for a concert. It was the first student organized concert of the semester, and as seen on tie-dye posters notifying the students of Warren Wilson College (WWC), three acts were scheduled to play starting at 7 p.m.
Junior and musician Walker Russel set up the microphones and audio equipment. Beforehand and throughout the concert he was seen adjusting the audio levels assuring that the performer could be heard. Small groups of friends of the bands entered early. Community built amongst them sharing an inconspicuous jar of liquid.
At 6:58 p.m. the Student Activities Crew organizer of the concert, Mac Clark, who is a sophomore arrived. He mentioned some challenges of organizing a student concert.
“You have to be on your shit for communication constantly,” Clark said. “… Some artists are really picky about what time in the show they play, whether or not they can play at all … Honestly, the biggest challenge has been working through, with administration, ways of managing all this without basically making it impossible to do.”
Regardless of the challenges, students filed into the Bryson gym. Clark urged the attendees not to drink in or around Bryson due to the Goth Wedding fiasco the previous semester where a goth-themed concert had been shut down due to found beer cans.
The lights were turned off at 7:14 p.m. and in perfect Warren Wilson style, the concert started fashionably late.
At 7:15 p.m. the first band performing introduced themselves as rock duo Hijinks. The duo consists of a guitarist/singer and a drummer, and they performed three songs. Afterwards the crowd urged an encore, and the duo performed a cover of “Enter Sandman.”
Sophomore Luca Longini and guitarist/singer for Hijinks shared some thoughts on getting to play live.
“It's fun to play amplified music in front of people,” Longini said. “Feels good to … I don’t want to say it feels powerful ‘cause that sounds ego-y, but the energy of electric guitar is powerful, like cranked up. And it gets people moving so it's cool to be able to do that.”
The second act of the concert was Singer/Songwriter Madeleine Miller. Madeleine generally performs as a solo act, singing and playing guitar on stage. At this concert, however, at roughly half way through their set they were joined by a bassist and drummer. Madeleine performed a final solo song as an encore.
“Usually it's just me singing in my room and so it’s nice to share the stuff that I’m really proud of with people that hopefully enjoy it,” Miller said. “I feel like it's rewarding to share, it feels good to share my music … It was really fun having a band accompany my music.”
The third and final set of the night was performed by funk-influenced punk band and performance artist trio Toadhand. The theme of their performances are that they are the higher-ups of a dystopian corporation.
Senior and bassist/singer of the concept of Toadhand, Declan King, gave their after show feelings on their performance at the concert.
“Nerve-wracking, I feel like I went from … I mean it’s been a weird day,” King said. “I’ve been really hungover all day, so I’ve been kind of trying to work through that and really bring the energy tonight, and I feel like I was a little shakier than I would have liked to have been. Next time I’m not going to drink so much the night before a show. Ideally. Oh well.”
With the conclusion of Toadhand’s set, the concert ended. Following the end of the three official sets came an open jam. The open jam is a recurring feature of the Warren Wilson student concerts — an inviting space for fellow students to play music with new people.
To listen to Hijinks or Madeleine, check out their spotify pages.