On a cold winter night, students buzzed as they filed into the Student Union ballroom on Monday for the much-anticipated fall concert, featuring Cults, hosted by Student Programming and Raider Entertainment, or SPARE.
Every year, SPARE organizes a fall and spring concert, free to students, along with a range of other entertainment opportunities, including movies, comedy, and more. In past years, MTSU has hosted artists such as Del Water Gap and Hippo Campus to perform at the fall concert. SPARE is funded through student activities fees, according to SPARE’s website.
Auburn, a band signed with MTSU’s Match Records, kicked off the night at 7 P.M., fronted by sophomore Austin Evans. The group warmed up the crowd with their alt-indie sound and their “weird midwestern emo tunings,” as guitarist Riley Lindsey joked between songs.
During their 30-minute set, the group wowed the crowd with multiple unreleased songs and played some new music they had been working on, showing their excitement about playing this event.
Between sets, fans sat on the ground holding their spots for the performance to come. Many discussed what songs they wanted to hear as stagehands flipped the stage to prepare for the night’s headliner.
Cults, the New York City-based indie pop duo, consisting of Brian Oblivion and Madeline Follin, took the stage around 7:45 p.m.
The dark room exploded with light and applause as Cults took the stage and colorful graphics danced across the screen behind them.
Follin drifted across the stage in a blue mini dress and gogo boots, and floated through tracks like “Monolithic,” “Bad Things,” and “Gilded Lilly, ” and had multicolored onions for graphics covering the back and sides of the stage for the performance of “Onions.”
“Are we really in the middle of Tennessee?” Follin asked, pointing with her finger and gesturing to the center of the stage. She was met with applause, cheers, and gestures from the audience as she answered with a smile. Follin even engaged in cheerful banter with a fan who was wearing a yellow birthday hat.
MTSU students in the crowd bob and sway, some with hands in the air, allowing Follin to enchant them with the final song of the night, TikTok hit “Always Forever.”
Originally booked for this year’s cancelled Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival, the group had to leave Tennessee earlier than expected and were thankful for the chance to come back and play for the Middle Tennessee fans.
“We were really sad not to be able to play [Bonnaroo], and we were really glad to be able to come back in the same year,” Follin said from the stage.
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