Despite the ominous clouds, students were lined up at the entrance to Juice Jam long before the gates opened.

‘This is the highest-selling Juice Jam ever,’ said Darren Goldberg, president of University Union, before the event Sunday. ‘There’s been buzz around campus, and I think it’s going to be an incredible show… I think it’s not going to rain. Last year it drizzled and people stayed out. They’re here for the music.’

When the clouds closed in, students still continued to file in as the rain came down. They waited in the rain for their favorite bands to perform.

First up were The Cool Kids. They walked onto the stage wearing their typical bright colors and baseball caps with the bill to the back. They waved to the crowd.

‘Syracuse,’ belted Chuck Inglish, greeting his audience and exciting the crowd before he and Mike Rocks began to rap. The crowd sang along to songs from the duo’s new mix tape, ‘Gone Fishing.’

‘Put your hands up,’ Rocks said, and the whole crowd responded immediately with hundreds of hands swaying as one to the beat of the song.

‘If you’re going to make a comment on Juice Jam, I’d comment on The Cool Kids,’ said Zoe Langhans, a sophomore in the Martin J. Whitman School of Management, adding that she loved their music set. ‘They had good energy and it was all around a good show.’

The Cool Kids’ farewell was just the beginning, and after a small intermission it was Jack’s Mannequin’s turn.

Although Andrew McMahon, the founder and lead singer of the band, didn’t walk on stage until after his bandmates set up their instruments, students could not reach the stage fast enough. They ran to the stage from various points of Skytop Field where they had been lounging with friends. But the music from the piano and electric guitars hit the air loud and hard before they could reach the crowd surrounding the stage.

The band played a range of music including ‘Dark Blue,’ ‘Watch the Sky’ and ‘Swim,’ their newest single. Then McMahon and his band thanked their fans and retreated into their massive tour bus. The crowd stirred – the headline was up next. Girls sat and talked in circles, couples moved quickly to the food tents and groups danced to the music the disc jockey put on. The anticipation was rising.

‘I didn’t even know the first act … I only heard two songs of Jack’s Mannequin before,’ said Cat Rivera, a sophomore retail management major. ‘I’m really here for Girl Talk and I’m so excited.’

The crowd waited almost an hour. The sun came out, the field began to warm up and then there was a loud voice from the stage: ‘Show some love for The Cool Kids and Jack’s Mannequin … let’s get the party started. Girl Talk, Girl Talk, Girl Talk.’ The name of the headliner echoed across the field over and over again.

Gregg Gillis, a mash-up disc jockey, started to play his music. There were no back-up bands or cool instruments in this set: Gillis took the stage with only a laptop. But the crowd didn’t seem to care.

He pulled about 20 students onto the stage and they danced their hearts out for the entire hour that he performed. Students on the ground did the same. People on stage blew long streams of toilet paper out onto the crowd with air blowers. People danced in between these white jets of paper to hits from the past and the present, masterfully mixed to sound like a continuous stream of music. Huge white balloons leaked confetti onto whoever hit them. More confetti was thrown onto the crowd while the dancing continued, finishing off the long day with a bang.

Girl Talk’s set defined dance party.

Iman Luther, a freshman fashion design major, said, ‘I would have stayed for Girl Talk even if it rained.’

ampaye@syr.edu

Published on September 13, 2009 at 12:00 pm