Photo by Georgia Greenberg.
In an event organized by WLFM and SOUP, a handful of musicians competed for a paid gig by performing songs for an audience of Lawrentians, who then decided which act to award the opportunity of a performance with a monetary stipend. All of the performers were excellent, but only one act was able to land the gig. Senior and WLFM co-president Molly Reese hosted the event; junior Adona Lauriano said that she did a great job of keeping the event on track and handling any small issues that arose. Lauriano said of the event overall, “The musicians were all amazing, I had a great time, and I can’t wait for the next LU Live.”
First up was senior Daniel Green, who did a set of a few rap songs that he wrote and produced. They ranged from hype and motivational anthems to more earthbound concerns like run-ins with the police and his experience as a Black man in America. Green did a fantastic job of getting the crowd riled up and excited for the coming performances.
Up next was senior Caro Granner and sophomore Moreau Halliburton, who performed three of Granner’s songs. Granner played guitar and was supported by Halliburton on percussion. They performed a trio of lovely folksy pop songs that warmed the hearts and put a smile on the face of everyone watching.
Sophomore Kyree Allen stunned as the third performer as he sang beautiful piano-assisted tunes that he wrote himself. To paraphrase his words, Allen injected a healthy dose of “magic” into the proceedings with his otherworldly voice. He ended his set with a poem that was not written by him, but that fit snugly with his message of spreading magic around your community.
Junior Jacob Deck followed this up with a very charming set of tunes that he performed on the harp and flute respectively. He did his own singing of what sounded like Irish folk jigs or sea shanties. It was a refreshing change of genre and landed the audience in a headspace that was reminiscent of a different time and place.
Finally, the audience got a brief performance from seniors Matthew Wronksi on the violin and Amos Egelston on the trumpet who played interesting, melodic tunes that sounded as if they were improvised. Due to some technical difficulties and lack of time, they were not able to perform the full extent of their set, but it was still worthwhile to hear what they had to play for us, considering it was a bit more down to earth than the previous performances.
In a last-minute addition, junior George Medina jumped up to perform one song to round out the evening. Although he did not compete in the final selection, Medina’s performance solidified the evening as an incredible opportunity not only for Lawrentian performers, but also for Lawrentian audience members — rarely has a Lawrence stage seen such diversity of form and style, with such care and proficiency.
The audience was asked to applaud the people that they wanted to win after all of the performers had finished, and the lineup was quickly reduced to a toss-up between Granner and Halliburton, as one team, and Allen as the other. The volume of the applause for Allen was clearly stronger than that of Granner and Halliburton, so the award went to him. Everyone deserved to win, though; you could even say that everyone who attended LU Live, be they spectators or performers, was a winner that night for taking part in such a magical event.