Student artists share original music, covers at University Union’s Planet Underground
Isabella Flores | Staff Photographer
Students artists like Sammy Curcuru took the stage of The Underground in the Schine Student Center. Curcuru was one of six artists that performed this past Saturday.
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Having entertained Syracuse University students on the weekends at local house show venues, student artists like Nancy Dunkle were ready to take the big stage and supporters, like Jacob Shaver, were eager to watch.
“Supporting these new upcoming bands through the school and putting on more events like this is a good way to get more people to come out and bond over something that everyone has — a common love for music,” said Shaver, a first year architecture student.
On Saturday, University Union hosted the Planet Underground concert on the first floor of the Schine Student Center. The concert solely featured students from Newhouse’s Bandier program or the College of Visual and Performing Arts, including Jordyn Tareaz, Sammy Curcuru, Padma, Nancy Dunkle and The Accountant and All-Thumbs.
The show commenced with freshman Padma’s hit song “I’m So Cool,” warming up the crowd for the rest of the show. Padma then debuted her new single “Supersonic” in an emotional performance, keeping the crowd mesmerized as she sang.
The Accountant and All-Thumbs bolstered the energy of the crowd with their upbeat performance of their song “Melt,” which was released this month. Later, singer Nancy Dunkle joined the lead singer of the band, Eric Timlin, on stage to perform the band’s first released song, “Living Up.”
Dunkle soon took the stage herself and played crowd favorites like “Poster Child” and a nostalgic cover of Dr. Dog’s “Where’d All The Time Go,” and even teasing a new song that has yet to be released.
Dunkle was excited at the opportunity to play for her fellow classmates in a setting that allowed all students to attend free of charge.
“It’s nice performing at a school event … and having people being able to come for free and experience it,” Dunkle said.
Sammy Curcuru performed next, debuting unreleased songs like “Messy Room,” as well as his hit song “look @ u.” He also took the chance to sing a cover of ROLE MODEL’s trending song “blind.” On stage, Curcuru said the live scene at Syracuse has given him more momentum as an artist.
Tareaz was the last performer of the night, ending the show with a bang. She performed an array of songs, including her single “So Good (On My Own).” Her rendition of Rihanna’s “Umbrella” had many in the crowd singing along.
For freshman architecture major Henry Herbert, attending the event meant learning more about the artists. The arts are very important in our world, he said.
“Many of the bands are going to be starting here, so it’s good to support them while they’re young so they eventually get a huge audience,” Herbert said.
University Union’s concert research coordinator Fanta Lynn-Diarrassouba spoke about the importance of giving student musicians the spotlight to help advance their careers.
“Syracuse is a big school, but there’s a small community that does come out to these events,” Diarrassouba said. “So that helps create learning stage presence, just the basic needs of being on stage and being an artist.”
Published on March 26, 2023 at 11:22 pm
