This year’s Brookfest concert, featuring B.o.B, Twenty-One Pilots and Panic! at The Disco at the Island Federal Credit Union Arena, resulted in a large success for the Undergraduate Student Government, making it the first sold-out concert since Wiz Khalifa in 2012. Students filled the arena and vibed to the mix of genres the show had to offer.
While B.o.B performed his latest hit “Not For Long,” as well as his popular collaboration with Taylor Swift, “Both Of Us,” he really got the crowd going with the 2010 throwback hit “Airplanes.” He then spread his “wings” and fell into the crowd.
Twenty One Pilots followed B.o.B and the group served as a good transition between artists because their sound sways from alternative to rap. The duo features Josh Dun on the drums and Tyler Joseph on lead vocals.
Their ukulele cover of DJ Khaled’s “All I Do Is Win” caught the crowd’s attention and they kept that energy when they segued into their hit “House Of Gold.”
Joseph told the audience about the band’s tradition of crowd surfing over audience on a surfboard.
“The university told us we were not allowed,” Joseph said, “I wanted to be on top of all you guys, but they shut that down.”
The duo from Columbus, Ohio also performed their new hit single “Tear In My Heart,” from their album, Blurryface, set to release on May 19.
“Ballad of Mona Lisa” radiated through the arena to introduce Panic! at the Disco. Lead Singer Brendon Urie hyped up the crowd and then he went into the song “Only Difference Between Martyrdom And Suicide Is Press Coverage.”
The band played hits including “This is Gospel,” “Nine in the Afternoon” and “New Perspective,” as well their new single, “Hallelujah.”
Senior Jasmine Cervantes said she tweeted the band multiple times to cover “Bohemian Rhapsody” and to her and everyone else’s excitement, they did.
Of course, the show came to a close with the 2005 anthem, “I Write Sins Not Tragedies.”
“I’ve never really listened to Panic! at the Disco or Twenty One Pilots, but they were pretty good. Overall, they did a great job,” Ahmed Khokhar, a sophomore, said
The mix of alternative music and hip-hop was a refreshing twist to Stony Brook’s annual Brookfest. The predicted distaste for this year’s concert was proven wrong by the hundreds of fans that came out to enjoy the concert, even those with the slim knowledge of alternative music that only reached as far as the mainstream Panic! At The Disco song “I Write Sins Not Tragedies.”
Bass player and vocalist Tom Fasano of Nice Shot, Kid was pleased with the effort made to include different genres at this year’s Brookfest.
Nice Shot, Kid opened in last weeks Streetlight Manifesto performance and last semester’s “Back to the Brook” concert.
“I think it’s great that this [Brookfest] is appealing to different genres,” Fasano said, “people opposed the idea of Panic! at the Disco, but look at this turn out.”
