For a day, SMU went all Woodstock. Well, actually, the North Quad went sort of Woodstock.
I take that back. The North Quad was less Woodstock and more of a Bruce “Bruno” Willis benefit concert for inner-city kids. In actuality, however, what went down was Gamma Phi Beta’s first attempt at an outdoor music festival (once again, sort of). The festival, entitled “Rockin’ for the Cause,” featured five musical acts back-to-back: Jonathan Tyler & the Northern Lights, Nick Naehritz, Sometimes It Rains, Southern Drive and the Denton-based Rusty Brothers.
The first act, Dallas-based Jonathan Tyler & the Northern Lights, took the stage nonchalantly, perhaps in a little “too cool for school” manner. However, with an eruption of southern blues, they shattered the placidity of the green and sunny Northern Quad.
Sounding a bit like the garage-and-jeans blues band, the Black Keys Jonathan Tyler & the Northern Lights kicked “down home” guitar jams into the spring air, while the drummer pounded echoing rattles into the stone columns of Dallas Hall. The lead singer, Jonathan Tyler, sang with a cigarette-scarred voice over the crashing of drums and distorted guitars. According to sophomore Johnard Washington, Jonathan Tyler had a “great and very mature voice.”
While the band played on, sunshine fell gently, a pleasant breeze rolled over the lawns of winter rye grass, and gradually, the audience seemed to forget the fact that they were sitting in the midst of a large metropolitan area. In short, everything was groovy. The 100 or so people who populated the quad halfway listened to the music, while chatting easily with one another – generally having a good time.
The next act to take the stage was singer, songwriter and guitarist Nick Naehritz. With acoustic guitar in hand, the obviously nervous Naehritz meekly walked across the stage. However, Naehritz provided a brief interlude of acoustic songs that sat reasonably well with the crowd. His soft voice lilted melodically over slowly strummed chords that rang into the air creating a flowing and dulcet sound. This kid, wherever he came from, was slowcore, hardcore. But, despite the boring tendencies of slowcore, Naehritz managed to keep the crowd interested in his music. Bravo, Mr. Naehritz.
Then SMU’s own little indie band, Sometimes It Rains, took the stage. In a moment that was unmistakably “Woodstock,” hippie-esque Smith and the rest of Sometimes It Rains tuned up their instruments in the hazy sun that fell lazily across the campus.
The band swept into the New York rock-styled song “We Can.” Despite obvious difficulties caused by haphazard sound engineering, Sometimes it Rains delivered its particular brand of indie-pop and rock with reasonable success.
Despite a time crunch caused by the first band’s lengthy set, Sometimes it Rains managed to play most of the songs featured on its newly released EP, “Elijah, Wood You Please Sign Us?”
The band, after a sabbatical from live shows, displayed an intensity that rivaled that of bands that frequent festivals like Austin City Limits. As it thrashed and jumped to the song, “You Got Me Thinking,” the grandiose backdrop of Dallas Hall and the scuttling of photographers combined to create a surreal scene.
This, indeed, was a concert.
Sophomores Courtenay Paris and Johnard Washington approached the stage. To the amusement of the relaxed and somewhat inattentive crowd, they started dancing, carefree and obviously enjoying themselves and the music. Undoubtedly, this was the high point of the entire event. What followed was a grim turn into the generic.
The two bands that followed can be summed up fairly easily. Here it is: They were like country-rock bar bands that took a wrong turn on I-75 and ended up, unfortunately, at SMU. Well, hell. The first “bar band supreme” was the country-crunch rock Southern Drive, complete with a harmonica. The band’s set was laden with ill-executed cover songs. And the similarly minded Rusty Brothers played out the anti-climatic end of the festival.
However, considering that this was the first Gamma Phi attempt at a music festival, the event was a reasonable success. According to Gamma Phi President Katie Lanning, the event raised at least $2,000 for Campfire U.S.A., which is approximately 4-5 times more than they raised with past events like charity softball and volleyball tournaments.
However, I offer this piece of advice for the Gamma Phi’s: Please refrain from booking country-rock bar bands. Otherwise, I’ll be forced to pretend that I’m in a bar – drinking heavily, trying damn hard to forget the entire day.
