The Sounds of Storrs concert was hosted at the Student Union Terrace on Saturday, April 25 at 5 p.m. as part of the University of Connecticut’s many Spring Weekend activities.
The performance took place under a tent enclosure, which came in handy amidst the evening’s light rain. Chairs and tables were spread around for spectators, with many onlookers coming over with food from the Food Truck Festival.
The UConn Rock Ensemble was first to take the stage at 5 p.m. The lineup of students performing and their instruments changed after each cover of a popular rock song, allowing the group to channel different styles of the genre. A few performances included a brass section, consisting of two saxophonists and a trumpeter, which added a dynamic flair to the covers.
Among the highlights was a rendition of The Smashing Pumpkins “Mayonaise,” a heavy performance amplified by the inclusion of two guitarists. The penultimate cover was Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain,” which featured all three vocalists from the group singing at once.
The ensemble capped their performance off by playing “Movin’ Out (Anthony’s Song)” by Billy Joel. The impassioned playing ended fittingly with an intricate keys solo, which transitioned into a dense brass finale.
The group was followed by Ever So Slightly, a Storrs-based band. Unlike the UConn Rock Ensemble, the group of four, consisting of a singer, drummer, bassist and guitarist played mostly original songs.
“Flash Flood,” the second song performed, began with a traditional verse-to-chorus structure, before devolving into a dramatic jam session that built in volume and intensity. “Indigo,” another original, featured desperate calls for a lover to stay, which culminated in impressive belting toward the end.
The band’s aggressive and intricate rhythms, along with the powerful singing, echoed through the center of campus, and was in hearing distance of the people waiting in line for the nearby food trucks.
Ever So Slightly came in with some covers as well. Halfway through the set, they broke out into an energetic cover of Radiohead’s “Jigsaw Falling Into Place.” They ended their performance with a cover of “You Oughta Know” by Alanis Morissette.
The final performance from the night came from AshBABY, another local band. Their style of rock deviated from everything heard earlier in the concert, with the band emphasizing jazzier elements, long songsand lengthy instrumental sections.
The band kicked off by covering the band Phish’s “Down with Disease” and followed it up with a performance of “Dark Star” by The Grateful Dead. By the time the second song ended, nearly 30 minutes had passed, yet the band’s technical prowess and the shifting structures of the songs kept them engaging.
The band then played two original songs, which were also on the longer side. The first was entirely instrumental with very defined sections. The band kept flirting with silence at moments where the song seemed to be over, only for a new guitar riff to get things going again. The final track also had a series of segments, though it featured some vocals and got a small crowd from the audience dancing.
Anna Kremer, an eighth-semester anthropology and psychology student, said she came to support her friend Tomas Hinckley, the keys player for AshBABY.
“I thought it was really good,” Kremer said. “I liked the energy; I liked the jazz; I liked the beats.”
Kremer was among the group that first began dancing and continued to do so for most of the performance. She said the songs weren’t always easy to dance to, but she said she enjoyed doing it.
“It was a little hard sometimes, but we got the music in us,” she said.
Laura Coderre, a sixth-semester environmental and natural resources economics student, said it was her first time seeing AshBABY perform.
“I thought it was really sick,” Coderre said. “They had a really interesting mix of the jazz and a little more rocky elements. It had a good grove to it.”