Last Wednesday, students crowded into the Lyon’s Den for the year’s first open-mic night. The night’s entertainment featured performances from both old and new faces and included everything from singing to slam poetry and stand-up comedy.
Jordan Wolfe ’15, captured the audience’s attention with his musical parodies and unique renditions. He opened with a rendition of Nickleback’s “Rockstar” and followed with two original pieces. The first, “Internships,” had the whole room laughing and set the tone for his second original, “Unicorns vs. Narwhals.”
The audience was also receptive to open-mic regular, Vanbiet Nguyen ’16, who sang popular songs including “Latch” by Sam Smith and “Sweater Weather” by the Neighborhood, to which the audience clapped and sang along.
Open-mic nights are fun for both the audience members and for the performers, who are afforded the opportunity to perform for a supportive and enthusiastic crowd. According to Nguyen, “Contrary to what you see when I perform, I’m actually really introverted. But open mic is one platform that has helped to shape me into a more outgoing person. One of my friends said that I’m like the Hulk when I perform. Not exactly a perfect analogy, but she meant in the way I transform. I obviously don’t turn green but I become someone else. Music has this effect on me and really brings me to another place. It’s very transcendental.”
Among the poetry performers was freshman and first time poetry reader, Ashley Donovan ’18. When asked how it felt to read in front of a crowd for the first time she replied, “I was nervous. I’ve never performed before so I didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t know how the crowd would react to my poetry.” Of course, the crowd was both supportive and happy to hear her perform. Ashley went on to describe the mood at the Den that night as “Super mellow. Everyone was there to enjoy a good night filled with milkshakes and performances.”
The first open-mic of the year was a lot offun both for the audience and the performers and set a good precedent for open-mic nights to come.