Union Board’s annual ‘Big Show’ arrived, set up in the Dow, finished and left, finally allowing Albion girls everywhere to quit drooling over the delicious-looking music artists.
On Monday April 15, the pop/rap collaboration Timeflies, famous for their Tuesday night song releases on YouTube, performed to a large group of Albion students in the Dow. Although during weeks leading up to the event a great deal of students expressed that they had never heard of the group, the concert had a surprisingly solid turnout.
The show began at 8:00 p.m. with a rather disappointing DJ, who played some random beats without looking up once to engage the audience. By 8:45, the full crowd had arrived and squeezed together to form a compact, hype group of students.
Lead vocalist Cal Shapiro took the stage by 9:00 after music producer Rob Resnick, commonly known as “Rez,” dropped the opening beat. Even if you hadn’t heard of the group, Cal made the crowd feel like this was one big Albion party from the start. I was impressed by Cal’s performance as he actively walked around the stage to make eye contact with students, creating a more personal experience. Despite the unfortunate bombings the day of the concert in Boston, where Cal went to school and has family, they put on a very entertaining show.
“Rez was very upbeat and energetic,” said Don Strite, Ann Arbor junior and Union Board member. “He wanted the show to be a party and rock the crowd.”
After hosting Cal and Rez for Union Board the entire day before the show, Strite was able to get to know the guys a little bit.
“Cal was relaxed before the show,” Strite said. “He was very nice and said thank you a lot. He definitely didn’t want to seem like he was a celebrity.” 
Anyone who wasn’t having a good time sure as hell changed their mind halfway through the show when Cal remixed Ke$ha’s “Die Young”—Albion style. The vocalist and rapper covered everything between Cascarelli’s to the hi-liter party and even our biggest rival when he yelled, “F*** the Adrian Bull Dogs.” The crowd went insane, to say the least.
“[Cal] was really excited to do the freestyle, and I could tell it was his favorite part about the show,” Strite said. “While talking him through what the freestyle topics were about, he seemed to like getting to know Albion.”
The group came out with their first album, The Scotch Tape, in Sept. 2011 and performed many of their own original songs throughout the show. However, the group is famous for covering and remixing popular music.
“I really enjoyed the mixing of the music,” said Sy Riddell, Traverse City sophomore. “I really liked the atmosphere and the heavy base, too.”
The group performed a three-song encore at the end of their show, and some crazed fans stayed behind in the Dow to try and meet the duo. The groupies, however, were unsuccessful.
“Both were worn out because of the day’s events,” Strite said. “They said they had a lot of fun performing and said thank you for having them out there.”
Photos courtesy of Albion College
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