Though MusicFest is one of the University of Denver Programming Board (DUPB)’s most well-known events, it has been on a three-year hiatus after dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, a weather cancellation in 2021 and last year’s controversial artist. It finally returned this year when hundreds of DU students and the broader Denver community gathered on Friday night at Levitt Pavillion to listen to Bryce Vine’s hour-long set.
Bryce Vine presents a genre-bending, East-meets-West coast sound all his own, drawn in equal parts from the influence of bass-heavy reality rap, the spirit of punk rock, and anthemic, pop sensibility, according to Spotify.
Vine has around 4 million monthly listeners on Spotify. Denver is his second-highest listening market with 75,000 monthly listeners falling only to Chicago which has about 86,000 monthly.
Vine just wrapped up his “The Saturday Night Tour” where he stopped at Mission Ballroom on Feb. 25.
Vine mentioned during the show how he had just wrapped up a two-week vacation in Europe so he was jet-lagged, but he also said he had gotten food poisoning abroad as well, so he was recovering from both. But that did not stop him from jumping and dancing around the stage.
As someone who had heard of a couple of Vine’s songs before, but was far from a hard-core fan of his, I knew and sang along to about four of the 10 songs he sang. You could tell he had a very modified setlist made up of his most popular songs that most people would know.
He opened his set up with “Guilty Pleasures,” which is a song off of his 2014 EP “Lazy Fair.” It is a fun, energetic anthem about embracing what makes you happy, even if it’s a little bit indulgent. The opening song set the vibe of the night well.
He closely followed that with “Drew Barrymore” which is his most popular song on Spotify with 340 million plays and was one of the two songs that the crowd really sang along to.
The second song that the crowd seemed to know most was “La La Land” which is different from the usual music categories his music falls under. This song was really what made me want to go to MusicFest, as I have had this song on my country playlist since it came out in 2019.
Langon Bradley opened the show at 6:45 pm and was followed up by DU’s Battle of the Band’s winner, Judith Hindle.
“This is definitely the largest demographic we’ve had,” said lead singer Ava Bross. It wasn’t just DU students who filled the crowd. There were kids of all ages and even families in attendance.
Guitarist Silvia Miller spoke on the impact this event had on the female-fronted band. “Our single [Headspace] has skyrocketed in streaming, we have more Instagram followers, it’s just really cool to see people engaging in our music,” she said.
What is next for Judith Hindle? Keep your eye out for new singles this summer as well as an upcoming music video.
DUPB ended the night with Texas Roadhouse rolls and their well-known cinnamon butter which made the already amazing night even better.
Here is to hoping MusicFest has regained the performance streak and continues to lighten the lives of students with good music, good food and fun.
The concert’s setlist:
- Guilty Pleasure
- Margot Robbie
- Baby Girl
- Blame it on me
- Saturday Night
- All Star (Cover)
- Sunflower Seeds
- Miss You a Little
- Bella
- Glamorama
- Drew Barrymore
- I’m Not Alright
- La La Land
- Sour Patch Kids
