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When senior Donyell Logan first heard Emotional Oranges at Coachella earlier this year, he never imagined he’d get the chance to see them in Syracuse up close.

“Syracuse, are you feeling iconic?” Vali, one half of the duo, asked the crowd as she led into one of their original songs, “Iconic.”

On Friday, students meandered into a fully decorated Goldstein Auditorium dressed in their favorite evening concert attire. They were ready to see what University Union’s Bandersnatch had to offer.

This semester’s lineup was stacked with some empowering female artists. R&B-pop group Emotional Oranges headlined the show with support from Tommy Lefroy. Froggies, a female-led student band, was the opening act.

Goldstein was decorated in different hues of red with a photowall and various freebie tables set up in the back. The intimate space provided the opportunity for both the audience and artists to connect more than they would in a larger concert venue.

Junior Evelyn Broughton came to the concert to support roommate Sam Ronan, who accompanied Froggies on the keyboard at Bandersnatch, but got much more than she expected.

“It’s pretty intimate,” Broughton said. “It’s nice — I feel like I’m having a conversation with the artists.”

Froggies got the crowd moving to the tune of their vibrant rock music. They started the night off strong with their original song “Another Night.” While the crowd may not have known all the words to all their songs their strong percussion, guitars and energy kept them moving.

“Everyone needs to dance, it’s a requirement,” guitarist Sam Parrish said to the crowd.

She led the crowd in Froggies’ rendition of ABBA’s “Lay All Your Love On Me.” While the audience was lively, they were slightly dwarfed by the space. But they eagerly used the room to spin around and dance in small groups. Toward the end of their set, they got sentimental and performed the first song they’d learned together as a band.

“This is the first song the three of us learned together. It’s very witchy,” said Parrish.

The group ended as strong as they started thanking the crowd and UU for having them.

Tommy Lefroy, comprised of Wynter Bethel and Tessa Mouzourakis, is a relatively new duo in the music industry, but the pair are making waves. The two women wrote, produced and released their first album over Facetime during lockdown.

The duo said they wanted to flip the usual script around women and heartbreak and strive to be the heartbreakers rather than the ones heartbroken. They draw from other heartbreakers like Patti Smith, Joni Mitchell and Carly Simon, Mouzourakis said.

“A huge thing we talk about is offering a safe space for the listeners to feel whatever it is they need to feel,” Bethel said.

Meghan Hendricks | Photo Editor

From yelling out the names of their heartbreakers to asking the duo to pose for their BeReals, the audience welcomed the artists with open arms.

The pair performed a variety of songs including an unreleased track and the song they just dropped today, “Jericho Beach.”

Many of the audience members appreciated the amount of women in the line up.

“Both (Tommy Lefroy and Froggies) of the bands (are) female-led. So exciting,” Broughton said.

Tommy Lefroy ended their time on stage with an energetic guitar and drum solo, which closed with Bethel on her back on the stage and Mouzourakis leaning over her.

After Tommy Lefroy cleared the stage, the crowd got a brief reprieve to sit down and further explore all the event had to offer. In the back of the auditorium, tables were set up with various merchandise and freebies.

WERW Radio handed out free T-shirts with their logo and designs on it. Hero, a skincare brand best known for their pimple patches, handed out various pocket-sized skin care products, and 20 Watts was handing out copies of their magazine and posters. The Pits Vintage had a pop up store set up with various sweaters and shirts available for attendees to purchase.

As audience members mingled, sat down and walked around the venue, the stage was set for headliners — Emotional Oranges. The stage cleared, left only with big lights lining the back wall.

Vali strutted on stage in a red matching ensemble, kicking the set off with their song, “Motion.” The fast-paced R&B song was a significant change from the earlier artists’ performances, but it got the crowd moving just as well. Azad Right, the other half of the duo, soon joined her on stage in a Balenciaga hoodie and a red hat, matching Vali’s outfit.

From the chemistry between the pair, to their lively backup dancers and even their pristine lighting, their set showed their star power. Even with their flashy stage presence they still managed to keep their performance intimate and true to the space through their audience interaction.

“I feel like I got a barbecue going,” said Vali jokingly.

“Like I’m sitting at my parents house,” Right added.

Like Froggies, Emotional Oranges kept the audience moving with their lively music and a few renditions, including “Killing Me Softly” by Fugees.

Halfway through their set, they introduced their backup dancers to the audience during a dance break. Logan and his friend May Alabaddi both passionately claimed Emotional Oranges as their favorite act of the night.

Alabaddi first discovered the duo during the pandemic, and they did not disappoint her in their Syracuse performance.

“I fell in love with this last song that they played, ‘West Coast Love’ over the pandemic and I can’t believe that they are playing it here,” Alabaddi said.

While intimate, students enjoyed the concert just the same, and appreciated the connection to the artists.

“I love live music. It’s just so fun to experience the music you listen to in your headphones walking through campus on the stage in front of you,” Logan said. “It’s amazing.”

Published on October 22, 2022 at 1:55 pm