Giuliana Savini
Multimedia Editor
On Saturday, Mar. 24, The Outback Teen Center hosted hip-hop duo Aer. The event was hosted by a former student, Dj Ryyan Hova T, who introduced the performers and filled the extra time with his original beats.
Straying away from the annual March rave, the Outback’s Student Governing Board (SGB) thought to mix it up with this live musical performance. “We wanted to provide a fun event in place of the CAPT rave, while also bringing students back into the Outback,” SGB President Tim Casavant said. Tim, who attended one of Aer’s concerts in January, saw their growing fan base at NCHS and called upon Outback Program Director Erin McDermott to contact their agent.
“We’ve been searching for a band that would really excited the students and I thought this was a great opportunity,” Ms. McDermott said. Attesting to the popularity of this musical group, the event sold out shortly after tickets went on sale.
Junior Alex Yuditski saw the concert’s potential in increasing the Outback’s popularity among students. “It is important that the Outback gets some business,” she said. “I don’t think most of us have been there since middle school. I’m going because I like their music and I am looking for some good, clean American fun.”
While the concert was open to all high school students, the upperclassmen were the bulk of the attendees. “I feel like it’s an unwritten rule that these events are mainly for upperclassmen,” sophomore Tommy Cronin said.
Although he did not plan on attending, he predicted a shifting demographic of the crowd. “Since Aer is popular with students in every grade, I think freshmen and sophomores will feel comfortable going,” he said.
Due to the casual atmosphere of the Outback and the relatively small size of audience, Aer provided the students with an intimate concert experience. “Aer exceeded my expectations; they were extremely chill and interacted with us the whole night,” junior Peter McKeever said.
Over the course of the night, the duo played a set of their most popular hits while taking suggestions from the crowd, “My friends and I requested a song and we were so surprised when they played it,” junior Emma Stracke said. “The reason my friends and I had so much fun was that their music was perfect to dance along to.”
According to Ms. McDermott, the event was one that was truly for the students and by the students. “I had never heard of Aer before, so this was driven 100% by the SGB,” she said.
Ms. McDermott also hopes that the SGB’s advocacy for this concert will spark future suggestions from the NCHS student body. “Hopefully, more students will discover bands and performers they want to bring to the Outback- and we’ll do our best to try and get them here!” she said.
Click on the links below to listen to a few of Aer’s most popular tracks.
