Pi’erre Bourne, Zack Fox, and DJ Jill Command the Crowd at This Spring’s Bandersnatch
A music producer, a comedian, and a bio-engineering student walk onto Goldstein Auditorium’s stage…
By Mattea Vecera
On Friday, March 25, University Union hosted another edition of their Bandersnatch concert series in Goldstein Auditorium. Featuring hip-hop artists Pi’erre Bourne, Zack Fox, and Syracuse University’s own DJ Jill, the night did not disappoint.
DJ Jill came on stage at 8:00, playing remixes of hip-hop songs that got the audience even more hyped for the night. After opening with Travis Scott’s “Highest in the Room”, she continued with her own fresh takes on Jack Harlow, Aminé, Beyoncé, and Playboi Carti, to name a few. Possibly the highest energy came from the crowd during her mashup of alternative rock band Paramore’s “Still Into You” with a drill beat.
In an interview after her set, Jill, a bio-engineering student, spoke about playing on a larger stage for the first time and her relationship with the crowd.
“This is my first time performing on a scale like this, and usually I just do smaller events or parties,” Jill said. “I have to look at the people and see what they like and feed off of to know what to play.”
Shortly after DJ Jill’s set, Zack Fox came onto the stage and began by leading the crowd in a guided meditation session. A jack of all trades as a comedian, actor, writer, internet personality, and now rapper, it was no surprise watching Fox take an unconventional approach to opening up his set. After commanding the crowd to take deep breaths in and out, he enthusiastically led them to repeat phrases, such as “God damn” and “Yeah, ho.”
Finally giving into the restless crowd, Fox transitioned right into his song “The Bean Kicked In,” which set the high energy for the rest of his set. He queued the songs himself from a soundboard on stage, which included pre-programmed phrases like “what yo ass say”.
It’s difficult to give the full picture of a Zack Fox performance without anything being taken out of context, as his sets feature quick-witted you-just-had-to-be-there humor. However, some unforgettable moments from his 30 minutes on stage include him serenading a baby doll, singing The Golden Girls’ “Thank You for Being A Friend” as a tribute to Betty White (see original reference here on Fox’s “Jesus Is The One”), and telling the students about his indulging in Irish Car Bombs at the local Faegan’s Pub before the show.
In an interview before his set, Fox touched on how he balances comedy with all of the other facets of his life, saying that he goes with his instinct but makes sure it all feeds into the same nexus.
“I think playfulness and silliness connect all of those things for me,” Fox said. “Keeping all of the ideas in the same egg and then figuring out what pocket to put them in is kind of my process.”
As Bourne’s opener, Fox’s stage presence set a high bar to follow after. Sadly, I don’t think it was quite met, though it is not completely Bourne’s fault.
Because Fox’s set ended a bit earlier than planned, there was a 30 minute gap between his and Bourne’s set. The students kept themselves entertained by dancing and creating small mosh pits for the music being played over the auditorium’s speakers until the music stopped, and the excitement grew.
Bourne entered the stage, while he and the crowd chanted his producer tag “Yo Pi’erre” back and forth until he began his first song by the same name. The first half of his set was met with great energy, with many people jumping around and creating mosh pits. Bourne kept his stamina, despite nothing else to entertain the audience other than himself and a projector displaying various animated pictures of him.
However, about 40 minutes into his set, the crowd started getting restless. The show had originally sold 500 tickets, but many had already begun staggering out, leading to an estimated 200 left in the spacious auditorium at this time.
While fans near the front continued to focus on Bourne, oblivious to what was going on behind them, those near the back started separating from the crowd, using the open space as their playground and creating their own smaller dance circles as more continued to leave.
Around 55 minutes into his set, the crowd had simmered down even more, though Bourne didn’t seem to mind. He began his so-called favorite song, “4U”, but was quickly thrown off by an attention-seeking fan who had snuck onto the stage. Security dragged him off, before releasing this student back into the crowd seconds later.
Bourne finished the song and his set right at the hour mark, leaving after thanking the crowd for coming out while making comments about needing to fix security.
For an artist that usually plays shows of much bigger size, Bourne put on a great performance despite all of the issues throughout. Hopefully, he won’t leave Syracuse University on this note and will want to come back another year for some redemption.