This post was written by Hatchet Reporter Hannah Traverse.
At the close of the semester’s first reading day, students got a chance to put down their books and enjoy some free music at GW Live, a concert held at Mitchell Theatre Wednesday night.
The show, presented for free with funding and support from the Student Association, Program Board and various student groups, included performances by bands comprised of GW students and alumni.
The four-hour event had a laid back atmosphere: throughout the show, students came and went, some still carrying backpacks. The concert’s hosts, seniors Eshawn Raj Rawlley and Imran Mahmud, provided comic relief between sets by performing an acoustic version of Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance,” and doling out bags of Cheetos for those who “correctly” answered fake trivia about the bands.
Duo Plumsucker started the show with their experimental blues-rock music. Their sound was refreshingly unadulterated, with folky overtones clear in each song of their set.
The second group, indie- and soul-inspired Once Okay Twice, lacked a lead singer, but their skilled guitar players, strong drummer and violinist more than made up for it with rich instrumentals and a dynamic sound.
East Coast Caravan was similar to Once Okay Twice in providing strong instrumentals and catchy alternative rock beats.
The members of Lucky Dub got the crowd dancing, and cheerfully bobbed and swayed to the beat of their original reggae-funk tunes. With light-hearted lyrics that spoke of sunshine, rising up, and “a new day coming,” Lucky Dub’s music perhaps provided a little bit of exam-period hope for students in the audience.
The concert was capped by a performance by hip-hop group TNTrio. Midway through the set, the crowd enthusiastically pushed toward the stage, which the group’s emcee and leader, senior Tony Fowler, acknowledged with a quick freestyle rap. Along with original songs, TNTrio played intriguing, but successful, hip-hop renditions of familiar tunes, such as the Beatles’ “Come Together” and Elton John’s “Rocket Man.”
Enhancing the concert’s impressive musical lineup was a solid sound crew from the Washington Sound Company. The team, headed by Brian Samuel Rashad, kept the music loud enough to wake anybody out of a finals-induced library coma. Rashad said GW recently signed an agreement with the company to provide their services for on-campus student events.
Those who came to GW Live as merely an excuse to shut the books got way more than a studying diversion; the
show was a unique chance to witness the talent of past and present GW musicians.
