Quavo rocks out Juice Jam after last-minute rescheduling by University Union
Quavo rocks out Juice Jam after last-minute rescheduling
Fans of Quavo, Smino and Maisie Peters flock to the JMA Wireless Dome after concert’s two headliner cancellations.
Booming speakers and moshing college students raved together at this year’s Juice Jam, which faced last-minute changes when two headliners dropped out in the week leading up to the event.
Juice Jam was originally set to feature PARTYNEXTDOOR as the headliner when tickets went on sale on Sept. 10. However, within days, University Union announced on social media that PARTYNEXTDOOR had pulled out for unknown reasons, and Lil Tecca would replace him.
Lil Tecca, known for his hit song “Ransom,” was then announced through another post to have dropped out due to an injury. According to a University Union post, “Following his announcement as the new Juice Jam headliner, Lil Tecca sustained an injury that will prevent him from making an appearance at Sunday’s show.” The post also revealed that Migos’ Quavo would take over the reins as the headliner.
At Sunday’s concert, Quavo did not disappoint, performing hits from his Migos days like “Stir Fry” and “T-Shirt,” while also surprising fans with hit collaboration songs like “Tough” with Lana Del Ray and “Hotel Lobby,” a track made with his late nephew Takeoff, who he shouted out at the start of the show.
Maisie Williams, an English pop star, performed singles like “Boy” and “Body Better” to a vibrant crowd.
“Watching her on stage was an amazing experience,” said SUNY ESF com-bio student Grace Bedford. “I’ve been listening to her music since 2021.”
Despite Quavo’s strong performance, students were dismayed by the bass-boosted speakers during Smino’s performances on songs like “Z4L” and “Matinees.”
“I came here for Smino,” said SU biology sophomore Daniel Koschar. “But the speakers during his performance needed to be lowered.”
SUNY ESF forest health freshman Nate Lewis also pointed out that the lighting prevented the crowd from becoming fully immersed.
“For Smino, they had kept the lights on, which was rough for the crowd,” Lewis said. “It definitely got into a vibe towards the middle, and some people were dancing.”
Lewis added that the crowd couldn’t live up to its full potential due to the frequent switching of artists. “I love Quavo, fly high Takeoff, but the energy wasn’t there,” Lewis said. “Three switches, PARTYNEXTDOOR to Lil Tecca and now Quavo, was a big deal to us, and Syracuse has to get their stuff together.”
Koschar echoed a similar sentiment. “What prevented a lot of people from coming was [University Union] switching artists so much this past week,” Koschar said.
Psychology student Yuzine Yi had bought tickets to see Lil Tecca when he was scheduled to perform but was left satisfied by Quavo’s performance.
“I think a lot of people expected the concert to get worse because of the artist switches,” Yi said. “But it turned out much better than expectations.”