Despite The Rain, Movin’ On 2023 Goes On

Story posted April 29, 2023 in Arts & Entertainment by Erell Williams.

Even with rain and chills, Penn State students quickly lined up at Movin’ On gates. Once let through, many ran to secure their positions in the front of the crowd.

Movin’ On is hosted every spring semester showcasing a select bunch of artists including a local group from the musical contest Battle of the Bands.

This is the second year since Movin’ On re-established itself in-person after the COVID shutdowns.

The event kicked off with the “psychonautic” crew and local band Mellow Honey, performing their most popular songs, many of which were shown off at Battle of the Bands.

Despite the weather, Marcin and Rob Borysiewicz appeared on stage with their uniform white tanks while drummer, Dillon Holzheimer, sported Mellow Honey merchandise.

“They were so electric,” Sara Usnick, first-year film production major said, who arrived early to see the group.

Running short on time, Mellow Honey still rocked the crowd with their final song causing a mosh in the front of the audience.

Spa-selected performer, UPSAHL, was next to take the stage performing her recent indie alternative hits.

The artist had red dyed hair matching her black and maroon tracksuit while her guitarist and drummer wore matching white, short-sleeve boilersuits.

This performer went above and beyond with crowd interaction speaking between and during her songs.

Even after forgetting her words, her stage presence remained strong as she provoked the crowd’s attention.

Hailey McCormick, first-year finance major, said it was her first time hearing of UPSAHL, however, “she definitely earned a new fan.”

Audience participation grew as her set went on peaking during “Lunatic” where she began shredding her guitar with her bandmate.

Seasoned performers, Neon Trees, followed the set and connected with the crowd through a lively introduction of dancing and interaction.

The second song in their setlist was “Animals,” a famous throwback among students.

Throughout the set lead singer, Tyler Glenn, flexed his best moves including a seemingly Michael Jackson inspired toe balance.

For songs students were less familiar with, Glenn offered the lyrics to successfully keep excitement.

The group further engaged the crowd with their cover of “Don’t You Want Me” by The Human League.

By the end of the set, the crowd was yearning for the band’s most popular song “Everybody Talks,” which the band played for its final song.

The band was met with explosive enthusiasm as students sang the song on their own.

Next group, COIN, received cheers before stepping on stage.

Their banner rose with a large inflatable ladybug and faux grass hills were placed as stage decoration.

With the students waiting in anticipation, the crowd went wild once the members stepped on stage.

The lead singer Chase Lawrence energetically danced on the stage through the first songs, and eventually, turned the stage into a slip and slide playfully gliding across the stage.

COIN used seamless transitions to float through their setlist, and occasionally spoke with the crowd, “This is the weather we prayed for,” Lawrence jokingly said.

The singer introduced the rest of his bandmates including Ryan Winnen, on drums, Joseph Memmel, on lead guitar, and Matt Martin, touring bassist.

Close to the end of their set Memmel took the lead on the mic with the song “Take the Stairs.”

The band closed out their set with their most popular hits including, “Talk too Much” and “Crash My Car.”

After receiving endless love from the audience, the musicians gleefully gathered to the center of the stage and bowed out.

The headlining artist JID also received cheers before his set with several groups of students chanting his name.

Students began moshing as JID took the stage and the crowd screamed at his presence.

JID expressed his gratitude for the hype before starting off with his rap “Never.”

The musician said he had come far from Atlanta and his origins and also acknowledged several fans wearing his record label, Dreamville, merch.

He followed his comments by saying that he would rap songs at the request of the audience.

Students shouted and held their phones up for his several hits like “Big Black Truck” “EdEddnEddy” and “Wells Fargo” by Dreamville.

He respected the crowd in between songs, having students cheer for themselves and joking about how smart the audience was before selecting the music.

For crowd engagement, JID encouraged call-and-response, jumping and mindful moshing.

The artist tried to save his more intense raps “151 Rum” and “Surround Sound” for the end, but reassured requesters that they would come.

Finally, for his closing performance JID prepped the crowd with simple lyrics to sing for the heavily requested song, “Stick.”

The audience was ecstatic as the set came to a close.

Erell Williams is a second-year majoring in broadcasting journalism. To contact her, email exw5303@psu.edu.

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Erell Williams

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Erell Williams is a first-year student, and her intended majors are Broadcasting Journalism and Chinese. She grew up in Douglassville, Pennsylvania. She is a member of the CommRadio News and Arts department. To contact her, email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).