Dead or alive? Most definitely alive at the Student Union Building Saturday night as students packed the cafeteria and pushed toward the stage in the atrium. The University of New Brunswick Student Union Kick-Off Concert 2019 was absolutely electric, and not even Hurricane Dorian raging outside could dampen the mood.
Opening act Joe Forestell, a UNB student, had the venue jumping early as more of the sold out crowd continued to file in. He was followed up by the Canadian DJ and musician Grandtheft, who upped the ante with an incredible show on the giant light panels behind him as the venue reached capacity.
The entire setup was an impressive feat by the organizers, with a large elevated stage, sprawling DJ table and speakers that made the building thrum. And thrum it did, as the crowd waited impatiently for the headliner to appear, all while UNBSU Director of Campus Events Anthony Gatto pleaded with the restless crowd to back away from the stage a few steps for safety reasons.
A few minutes later the main man himself, Canadian rapper Jazz Cartier, burst onto the stage, spraying the crowd with a water bottle as he jumped into his set. The crowd went ballistic and pressed forward as a team of around 8 security guards constantly pushed back against the waist high partitions that separated students from the stage.
It truly looked as though the security team were pushing for their lives against an enemy horde, and it didn’t let up for the remainder of the night.
Jazz traveled the stage and student perimeter with confidence, even jumping onto the partition at one point and rapping from above and almost in the crowd as security held his feet and shirt.
And before anyone knew it, a night those there wouldn’t soon forget was over. Out into the rainy streets they all filed. A successful concert was in the books on the first weekend of the school year.