On March 30, the Associated Student Body (ASB) and Highlander Radio Club hosted the Lights Out Spring Music Festival from 7:00 to 11:00 p.m. The event, which was open to all grade levels, promised an array of activities on the stage, in the large gym, and in the small gym. Activities included live music from solo or band performances, a glow in the dark dance with black lights, food trucks, arcade games, and more.
Artists included student and alumni performers and bands such as The Flowerheads, GhostboysXXX, Devonshire Downs, Beach Freaks, Ground Zero, Beach Freaks and Aidan Memory, Noah Bentley and Hundo, Mexican Slum Rats, junior Liza Luchinsky, and seniors Justin Tuell, Luisa Lorein, and Elliot Lee. The theme encompassed extensive genres such as rock, indie, rap/hip hop, and pop.
The Highlander Radio Club and ASB brainstormed together to execute the festival plan.
“Highlander Radio has been wanting to put on a music festival for the past two years now and after we put in our proposal this year, administration thought it would be a cool idea to combine a ‘spring fling’ that ASB wanted to put on with our event. Everyone agreed it would be a great idea,” the Highlander Radio club co-president, junior Marialena Lamprianidis, said.
The Highlander Radio club was responsible for the evening of festivities, which included organizing the live music aspect.
“We’ve established a schedule that lines up each of the performers with small breaks and time slots for transitions. There are some bands who performed for 30-45 minutes and some soloists who have 15 minute slots. During set transitions, students could go grab a bite at the food trucks,” the other co-president, senior Anthony Dersahakian, said.
Originally, ASB considered holding a carnival or a festival. Following the previous year’s winter formal, the student body reached an agreement to execute a more viable solution: a dance in the spring.
“We heard of [Highlander Radio Club’s] plan and since we thought about maybe having live performances, we knew this could be a perfect collaboration and so we started working together to make something,” ASB member senior Ariana Gamble said.
ASB took charge of ticket sales and contacted people who would be responsible for the parts of the festival, such as the lights and the arcade games.
The performers who played in the festival had been given the option to try out, while others were asked to perform, such as the Mexican Slum Rats. All in all, being a part of the performance meant time could be allotted to practice for many of the performers.
“A normal practice day for the band is arriving at our space, relaxing for a few minutes, before getting the inspiration to jam out a new track. From there, we begin to practice our set, while splicing in a few new tracks and unreleased songs we’ve been working on,” senior Emilio Mouriz, guitarist of the Mexican Slum Rats said.
With students listening to alumni artists at peers, the evening made for a unique experience that all attendees enjoyed.
“Our goal was to bring students together with a fun event that people aren’t really used to. Having student performers also creates a sense of unity and pride amongst our students, and that’s exactly what our clubs goal has been for the past two years,” Lamprianidis said.
The Plaid Press 