Review: Juice Jam’s return excites music fans
Review: Juice Jam's return excites music fans
There was a noticeable buzz building as a slow but steady stream of Syracuse University students made their way to Skytop Field Sunday afternoon for Juice Jam 2021.
The last in-person Juice Jam was in 2019, and it was easy to tell students were more than excited that the 2021 tradition was actually taking place. What was harder to tell is whether the intensifying enthusiasm was music fans’ desperation for live music after a lack of concerts for 18 months due to COVID-19, or simply that University Union had assembled a star-studded lineup that included talents such as Jack Harlow and B.o.B.
Eventually, Audrey Nuna took the stage, starting the set off with her song âCool Kids.â The track is loud and bombastic, something that was needed to wake up the crowd. Nuna noticeably struggled to get the full attention of the crowd, but still got a lot of excitement despite only being an opener.
In an interview, Nuna talked about the difference between pre- and post-pandemic performances.
âI think people are realizing how lucky we are to do shows and to be together in certain moments,â Nuna said.
Nuna had such incredible energy and stage presence as she played some of her recognizable tracks such as âTop Again ” and âComic Sans,â but couldnât get a ton of involvement from the crowd. This is to be expected for the opener of a show, but it was still disheartening to see such a talented performer not get the attention she deserved.
Next was Bea Miller, who garnered a larger, and more engaged audience. Miller is an expressive performer and was able to connect with her audience very easily, even breaking into a little rant about break-ups halfway through the set. Miller cleanly used the tired old line âItâs not you, itâs meâ to transition into her song of the same name.
Miller’s personality shined through even when she made a mistake, laughing off what seemed like a tiny bit of lyric confusion by riffing, âI told you guys Iâd f—- something upâ.
This only added to her strength as a performer and helped the audience better connect with her, which raised the energy in the crowd.
After Miller was rapper B.o.B, who kicked his set off with his song âReady,â and there was a massive spike in crowd size and energy by the time the song had started.
B.o.B is by far the most experienced performer out of the line-up, whose comfortable stage presence was on display as he played hit after hit. B.o.B knew how to get the crowd involved, and even choose a side of the audience he liked best to spur up a rivalry between the two.
In another move to get the crowd involved, B.o.B borrowed a pair of sunglasses from an audience member, and then asked the audience, âCan I put my shades on?â which led to an outpour of cheering from the crowd.
Most of the crowd was dancing along to his whole set as B.o.B went through his extensive catalog of hits such as âAirplanesâ and âSo Good,â and some hits that werenât his own like Sheck Wesâs âMo Bamba.â
As B.o.B closed his set, he signed off to an already elated crowd, âDonât drink and drive, just smoke and thrive.â
As was expected, the Juice Jam crowd felt on edge as it was staring at an empty stage as it awaited headliner Jack Harlow’s arrival. That tension finally exploded as Harlow began his set with his 2020 hit âTyler Herro.â
Harlow then performed his song âWarsawâ and it was at this point that the concertâs energy levels began to wane.
A sleepier performance from Harlow could have been expected coming off a fairly lengthy tour run across the country including Boston the day before Juice Jam. But Harlowâs low-key nature — at least in comparison to the other acts — was noticeable from the moment he started.
There was, however, a turning point when Harlow asked âIs Joe Boeheim still coach here?â that got a huge response from the crowd and Harlow kicked it up a notch.
Seemingly, this connection was needed for him to really start to perform with an energy that matched the crowd.
Harlow played âIndustry Baby,â a song he was featured on, and âAlready Best Friends” that were crowd-pleasers as students knew almost all of the words and sang along.
Harlow made note of the fact that the last college he performed for was the University of Kentucky, and asked the crowd if they could make his closing song âWhatâs Poppinâ the âbest performance of this Iâve done for a college.â
Itâs safe to say that, given the palpable excitement from the audience, that performance of âWhatâs Poppinâ was certainly better than Kentucky if not best the best heâs ever done on a college campus.
