By Michael Pedro
Western New England University’s annual big end-of-year event, aptly named Spring Event, happened on Friday, April 26. Every year, the Spring Event Committee gets at least one notable music artist to visit and perform a concert. This year’s artists were the X Ambassadors, known for their 2015 hits “Renegades” and “Unsteady,” and Bryce Vine, known for his 2018 hit “Drew Barrymore.”
A crowd filed into the gymnasium of the Anthony S. Caprio Alumni Healthful Living Center at around 6 p.m. People got settled, found some friends, and maybe even made new ones as they waited for the night’s first act. Just after 7 p.m., the Spring Event Board co-chairs, Lydia Barrett-Miller and Samantha Valcourt, took the stage to introduce everyone to the X Ambassadors.
After introducing themselves, the band broke into “Renegades,” arguably one of their most well-known songs. They sang many other tracks from their discography, including the high-energy “Adrenaline,” which got the whole crowd moving. That was followed by their most recent release “Your Town,” one of the tracks on their album Townie that dropped earlier this month. The penultimate song of their act was “Unsteady,” their other smash from 2015.
Then, a 30-minute intermission took place. Mic checks were done, and the crowd got slightly smaller after the X Ambassadors left. At 8:30, Bryce Vine appeared and broke into song.
He sang hits from his discography, like “La La Land” and “Drew Barrymore,” which had many people singing along to the lyrics. Most surprisingly of all, he sang a cover of Smash Mouth’s hit song “All Star,” which nearly everyone in the crowd loved. Vine got the crowd involved in the show and even took selfies with people as he sang his last few songs of the night.
Overall, despite a turnout that was lower than organizers anticipated, Spring Event was a great success. It had a very engaged crowd who sang and danced to many songs. It proves why it’s one of Western New England University’s longest-standing traditions, and organizers of next year’s event will seek to create a similarly memorable experience. Whichever artist (or artists!) is featured next year will be greeted with open arms for what will hopefully be another spectacular concert.
