On Tuesday, January 30th, the Brookfield Central student body was entertained with the first Lancer Block concert of the year. This concert was intended as a “showcase” to give several performers the stage to show off their musical talents.
The concert consisted of talents from the Super Mega Awesome Band of Coolness (band title pending) featuring Jon Otto (‘24) on guitar, Hayden Lessiter (‘24) on accordion and lead vocals, Adyn Hamann (‘24) on tenor saxophone, and Andrew Kindler (‘24) on keyboard. They performed the song “Maneater”, originally recorded by Daryl Hall and John Oates. Consisting of unconventional backgrounds of accordion and a piercing sax solo from Adyn, it was a very high energy performance (and may have gotten a little out of control towards the end). Although Adyn didn’t play for that much of the song, he did work as the group’s hype man, getting the audience engaged and singing along. Jon was locked in on those guitar chords and also provided some background vocals. Although Andrew’s keyboard playing may not be the easiest to make out in a recording, at some of the quieter parts his continuous playing of the chord changes were definitely necessary. As an objective journalist, people liked it.
This act was followed by a performance featuring Ryan Pifher on guitar, Pascal De La Torre (‘25) on bass, and Zach Stanley (‘24) on lead vocals. This group played the song “How to Disappear Completely” by the band Radiohead. A juxtaposition from the last tune played, the group’s performance was great. Zach’s emotional vocals over expert guitar playing by Ryan resulted in an extremely captivating, dramatic act.
Following the Radiohead song, Aadi Rajesh (‘24) came on stage in very stylish sunglasses singing “Uptown Funk” by Bruno Mars. A very entertaining performance, Aadi was great with crowd work getting really into dancing while singing. Aadi’s strong voice made for a very engaging show leaving the crowd screaming!
After Aadi’s Bruno Mars cover finished, the Irish Band Wagon band came on stage to play some great Irish music. Consisting of Sawyer Traband (‘25) on vocals and mandolin, Jackson Kerr (‘24) on ukulele, Sydney Boyung (‘26) on piccolo and vocals, Nathan Povlich (‘26) on acoustic and electric guitars, Pascal De La Torre back for more on bass, as well as Zach Stanley singing again for their first tune, the band played the song “The Ramblin’ Rover” by Andy Stewart. Their performance added a unique Irish flavor to the concert. Musically, they were very sound and their preparation was evident. I was told by Pascal that they’ve been meeting for about a year.. Their musicianship was quite impressive. For their first song “The Ramblin’ Rover” the vocals were passed off between Zach, Sawyer, and Sydney. All three of them sang it quite well and the contrast between their voices was interesting.
After their first song, the band left the stage, with Colton Hipp (‘25) and Luke Field (‘25) taking the stage. Luke, President of the Block Party concert club, had prepared a beat for Colton to rap to, but due to some technical issues, the beat wouldn’t load, so the Irish Band Wagon came on for an encore. This second song they played is called “Foggy Dew”, an Irish revolutionary song, featuring Nathan on electric guitar. A much heavier song than “The Ramblin’ Rover”, that Irish charm wasn’t lost though, as it had Sydney also come in adding piccolo to the mix.
Once The Irish Band Wagon finished their second song, Luke and Colton returned to the stage, this time the music working. Luke’s beat, named “Hard”, was a great track for Colton’s rap. Although it may have been a little difficult to understand, Colton’s performance was very good and he played off the energy of the crowd well. Closing out the concert with a rap show was a great closure and really displayed the large variety of music that the students at Brookfield Central have to offer.
There will no doubt be more Block Party concerts in the Black Box theater this year and in the years to come, so make sure to keep an eye out and sign up for them in Edficiency for Lancer Block.
