Student artists treat UU concertgoers with slow ballads and roaring music

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The audience in Goldstein Auditorium waited in anticipation as singer-songwriter and Syracuse University student Sadie Miller tentatively took her place at the center of the stage and set up for her first song, a slow ballad. Her soft voice drew in the audience and gained power as her set continued. She opened the show with one of the more intimate performances of the night, before the energy escalated and three other student acts took the stage.

Friday night’s student-led concert, hosted by University Union, also featured performances from pop-punk band Picture Us Tiny, multi-genre artist 33col3 and trap artist Knowahh. By the time the headlining Picture Us Tiny came on stage, about 50 students had gathered in the auditorium of Schine Student Center.

As the opener, Miller kept the audience captivated as she alternated between slower emotional songs and more upbeat pop songs. Midway through her performance, she took a seat at the piano to play what she said was her first song ever recorded, “Pretty Boys.”

She played a few more songs on the piano, and the audience swayed as she sang. Her last song of the night, “Dangerous,” brought the energy back up once more and gave the audience a memorable last performance.

Minutes later, Knowahh stepped up to the stage. He immediately started performing his first song, and the audience began to move in unison. The trap artist shed his shiny black jacket and moved from one side of the stage to the next, hyping up the crowd and filling the room with energy.

To close the show, Picture Us Tiny performed a nine-song set of original songs and pop-punk editions of older classic songs, like “Love Story” by Taylor Swift.
Corey Henry | Senior Staff Photographer

The 19-year-old artist played songs from his latest project “Beautiful Nightmare” and the crowd sang along to his ad-libs. The crowd swayed along to Knowahh’s mellow performance, which was followed by an energetic performance from hyper-pop artist 33col3.

SU junior Zack Dacierno, who goes by the artist name 33col3, ran onto the stage wearing a purple ski mask resembling the purple devil emoji. He sang his first track of the night and tossed the mask to the side after the song as the audience cheered for the next.

33col3, a multi-genre artist, performed songs from across his varied discography while on stage in Schine.

Sadie Miller gave one of the more personal performances of the night, slowing the energetic audience down with her grounding set.
Corey Henry | Senior Staff Photographer

Supported by the DJ mixing tracks as he performed, 33col3 raised the energy of the room. The artist’s versatile sound switched from rap to hyper-pop and punk. After rapping the first track, he used a voice modulator in real time, altering the sound of his voice and adding another dimension to his performance. By the middle of his set, the crowd was moshing to his music.

Jackson Velli, lead vocalist of the band Picture Us Tiny, joined 33col3 on stage to close out his set with the artist’s newest hyper-punk song, “Pet Bear.”

Then the rest of the headlining band, Picture Us Tiny, walked onto the stage, lights still dimmed. The members made some final adjustments to their instruments as the crowd waited for their performance. As the lights came up and they started their set, the audience swelled toward the stage, where the pop-punk band stood with smiles on their faces.

Knowahh rapped through an exciting set, constantly moving and jumping in time with the crowd.
Corey Henry | Senior Staff Photographer

After the first song, Velli encouraged the crowd to keep on looking out for one another. Then he remarked that no one wants to hear him talk and got right on to the next song.

Guitarist Vir Batra and bassist Anish Ghosh often strode around the stage to meet and play off of each other. During the second song, Batra’s guitar strings snapped. The musician tried playing through it and fixed the strings by himself before the third song.

The bandmates often shared smiles back and forth as they moved around the stage to jam out in unison. They played songs off of their self-titled album such as “Fort Reno” and “Indie Girls 101,” which collectively have over 22,000 streams on Spotify. The band members smiled throughout their performance and looked like they were having a good time on stage.

As they continued their set with enthusiasm, the audience bounced around, danced, and sang along through it all.