The Skybarn on South Campus has a maximum capacity of 400 standing people, but the number of students who attended Thursday night’s concert at the venue was nowhere near that number.

EDM artist Sweater Beats and hip-hop artist Michael Christmas performed at University Union’s first concert at the South Campus location. The concert, which the group announced exactly one week ago on March 26, was not introduced as part of any specific concert series.

The crowd, which seemed to verge anywhere between 100-150, gathered near the front of the stage. More than half of the venue was empty, and most audience members stood motionless. Concertgoers trickled in and out of the venue, some leaving after the first act and others arriving only for the last.

Sweater Beats, the show’s headliner, played remixes of songs such as “I Don’t F*ck With You” by Big Sean and “Stay the Night” by Zedd. It took people until his set, the last one of the night, to gradually loosen up and start dancing.

Sweater Beats, whose real name is Antonio Cuno, said he’s been making music since he was a young teenager and rose to fame because he “got hella blog love.” He’s toured with Chance the Rapper and Chet Faker, and will play at this summer’s Firefly Music Festival.

Hip-hop artist Michael Christmas performed some of his songs from his mixtape, “Is This Art?” He also made valiant efforts to engage the audience and get them energized.

“Get your hands up, motherf*cking Syracuse,” Christmas yelled.

It wasn’t until the end of his 30-minute set that he grabbed the audience’s undivided attention, ending with a freestyle rap that garnered the only applause of the evening.

Christmas is a nominee for the magazine XXL’s 2015 Freshman List, which features 10 up-and-coming rappers. He joins names like Lupe Fiasco, Big Sean, Macklemore, Iggy Azalea, Schoolboy Q and Chance The Rapper, all of which have been nominees of the Freshman List in the past few years.

The Boston native said before performing that he’s trying “not to get too hung up” on being nominated for the Freshman List in case he doesn’t get it, but admitted that it’s something he really wants.

“That was one of the first things, when I first started rapping, that I wanted,” Christmas said. “My favorite rapper was Wiz (Khalifa), and he was on the cover of the only magazine I think I ever bought in my life… I was telling my mom when I was like 16, ‘Watch. I’m gonna do this.’ And now I’m so close.”

Jake LiBassi, a senior communication and rhetorical studies major, opened the night. The student DJ played remixes of songs such as “Four Five Seconds” by Rihanna, Kanye West and Paul McCartney. Though the attendance could have been better, LiBassi said he was unaffected by the small turnout.

“I had all my friends here, they all came out and it was a great time,” LiBassi said.

Hayley Schimmer, a junior education major, said the fact that not a lot of people showed up wasn’t going to stop her from having a good time with her friends and enjoying the music.

She added that she prefers Skybarn as a concert venue as opposed to Schine Underground, where University Union usually holds its Bandersnatch Concert Series.

Said Schimmer: “I think that it might be hard for UU at first to get more people to come here to South (Campus), but Skybarn is a really nice venue. Right now it’d just be a little difficult to get people to come.”

Published on April 2, 2015 at 11:24 pm

Contact Clare: clramire@syr.edu