Any music lover can agree that one of the best aspects of listening to your favorite artist is seeing them perform live, something that my best friend from Arizona State University got to do when Foster the People played at InfernoFest.
This year's free annual fall concert took place on Thursday, September 27, featuring indie pop band Foster the People and DJ Munition who joined forces to give Arizona State University students the night of their lives. Like every concert, fans usually take home with them the sheer delight of having listened to the live renditions of their favorite songs, however, alongside frontman Mark Foster's serenading voice, the message he gave Arizona State University students would be something that they will always remember.
After the doors opened that Thursday night, students took their places either standing in the pit or sitting in seats along the stage at Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe. DJ Munition warmed up the crowd by throwing down a few bangers like Y2K hit "All The Small Things" by Blink 182 and every Paramore fan's anthem, "Misery Business", from their second record "Riot" that celebrated it's ten year anniversary just last year.
The intermission time between DJ Munition and Foster the People was no walk in the park, yet the build-up in anticipation was well worth it when they took center stage, illuminating the arena with iridescent rays of light before opening their set with the first few chords off of one of their first singles released from their 2014 record "Supermodel", "Coming of Age".
Foster the People opening with "Coming of Age" at Wells Fargo ArenaAmanda Ariola
Their setlist comprised of alternating between their latest record "Sacred Hearts Club", an album where the band seems to have finally broken away from the trappings of what people think they are, "Supermodel", and "Torches", the first record that they ever released and a personal favorite of mine. The indie pop band captivated the audience with their performance, energetically bobbing their heads to the beat of the songs, thus influencing the audience to clap and sway to the music. Near the conclusion of their set, lead singer Mark Foster, 34, took a moment to talk with the students about a number of things.
He began by saying how influential our generation is, and as students, our dreams are the future of society. He went on to say that he thinks about the buildings and the shops and the restaurants and how they were breathed into life because it was someone's dream and that the voice of millennials should be heard. Following that, he spoke of the hearing of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford's statement saying, "I watched the hearing today and I believe her, one hundred percent", leading on with, "When are we going to stop the culture of believing these old white men who have been in power for so long? [Kavanaugh], you've been a federal judge for a long time, you've had a good life. You haven't acted with dignity and integrity towards humanity in your lifetime. You don't deserve to be on the Supreme Court of Justice" which had sent the crowd into a flurry of whoops, screams, and cheers. The seat on the Supreme Court of Justice is a privilege.
Foster had mentioned that prior to the show, he did a bit of research and read about the Kavanaugh vote, emphasizing that Arizona Senator, Jeff Flake, was still undecided (at the time), to which, he read Jeff Flake's number off of his phone and encouraged the audience to give him a call to vote "no" for the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh as a Supreme Court judge.
If you haven't been keeping up with the news, a few developments were made over the past few days in regards to the vote. The first development was that Jeff Flake had declared he would be voting "yes" for Kavanaugh, later leading to confrontations in an elevator by two women who said they have been sexually assaulted, influencing Flake to reconsider his declaration. This segued into his decision to delay the Senate vote so a further investigation could be performed on Kavanaugh (note that more developments are underway).
What's more powerful than artists bringing people together with music is their ability to relay messages to their fans that often times, can become quite political, conveying their beliefs and personal opinions.
As the inner workings of our world changes, I've seen more and more artists take bigger initiatives to use their platform not only to promote their music or brand line but to also share messages that are meant to connect with us, words that spell out "we hear you, we see you, we stand by you," both on and off the stage. Just last year alone, a few artists I've personally seen live emphasized that at their concert, their fans would not be discriminated against and that the venue was a safe zone for them.
Even the release of Paramore's fifth record, "After Laughter," has inevitably given off a few political messages that Claire Dodson, of Fast Company, found herself writing about, simply due to the inextricable personal and political anxieties of 2017. We are finding ourselves as a society in a position to really evaluate the characters of those who are in power, and what's even more fascinating is that the same performers we find ourselves scream-singing songs in the car to are the same ones who encourage us to do so.
