On April 30, the University Programming Counsel (UPC) held their annual Spring Concert at the Mullins Center. The event was a success, with high energy and crowd-pleasing performances from all who performed.

The weather outside was the opposite of the atmosphere inside the venue; the cold, raw rain was a deterrent to the high spirits of those in line; thankfully, security was fast-moving. Once inside, concert-goers were greeted by Noddery. The University of Massachusetts student band were the winner of UPC’s UMass Got Talent show, earning the opportunity to be the student performers for the concert.

The all-freshman band consisted of Paige Hanson on vocals, Sean Thapa on bass, Aidan Supranowitz on drums and both Jackson Williams and Jasper Smith on guitar. Their camaraderie and dynamic on stage were infectious, as they performed a short but satisfying set consisting of an original song, “Strides,” covers of “Hysteria” by Muse and my personal favorite of the night, “You Outta Know” by Alanis Morissette. Noddery made the most of their limited time and opened the night on a strong note.

After a few minutes of downtime, Jay Sean took the stage. Best known for his 2009 pop hit “Down,” featuring Lil Wayne, Sean was fully aware of what the audience was waiting for. He referenced the hit multiple times throughout his set, building anticipation and leading the crowd on. Sean performed various upbeat songs, interpolating his performance with commentary on visiting Massachusetts and shoutouts to his children in the audience.

The set list included “Do You Remember,” another big hit from 2009, and “I Got a Feeling” by the Black Eyed Peas, teleporting the crowd back to that iconic year of music before finally performing “Down” a few times. The floor crowd was engaged, especially during “Down,” and colorful graphics of his name served as a fun backdrop. Despite his lack of notoriety and sometimes the occasional dragging monologue, Jay Sean put on an enjoyable performance.

Coi Leray started her performance right around 9 p.m. after a collage-style hype video, cataloging her achievements and her desire to be at the top. Born in Boston, Leray appeared excited to be performing at UMass; her excitement was evident in her set. Her energy was electric as she jumped around the stage with a whole posse of dancers, hyping up the crowd. With a backdrop of anime and video game-inspired graphics, Leray performed a variety of hits from her career, including “TWINNEM” and “Players” which both went viral on social media app Tik Tok.

One major highlight of her set was her dancers. Their flexibility and enthusiasm were enough to engage the crowd, even if some songs being performed weren’t well known. They engaged in a variety of dance styles, but notably voguing, a type of house dance spearheaded by the Latino and African American LGBTQ+ ballroom community. With a record number of anti-LGBTQ+ bills proposed this year, according to CNN, Leray’s inclusion of the dance style cannot go unnoticed. Leray brought intense energy and passion to her set, making her performance enjoyable even for those who were solely attending for Don Toliver.

Toliver, the Grammy-nominated headliner started his performance with a bang. Beginning at 9:50 p.m., he started with the bass-heavy and booming “I Can’t Save You (Interlude),” a hit track off award-winning producer Metro Boomin’s album. Complete with smoke cannons and graphics of a fire on stage, Toliver had the crowd hyped from the get-go.

Toliver performed an extensive list of hits from his entire career, ranging from “Private Landing” off his latest album, “Love Sick,” to his iconic feature on “CAN’T SAY” off Travis Scott’s album “ASTROWORLD.”

Toliver’s mic was clearly on, delivering live vocals that the crowd was eager to hear. The graphics changed with each song, ranging from the neon “Love Sick”  album logo to disco ball balloons.

Toliver was extremely engaged with the crowd, encouraging a mosh pit at one point and egging on the slightly rowdy atmosphere. The atmosphere of the floor was fiery and bumping, with concert-goers happily moshing and jumping around. The bass, extremely loud, certainly added to the collective hype; I could feel the vibrations in my chest and throat. Toliver ended his roughly fifty-minute set with multiple blasts from smoke and confetti cannons, thanking UMass for their energy and promising to be back soon. He delivered an expansive set and the crowd was extremely pleased.

As I filtered out of the concert, I overheard people in the crowd saying how much better the event was in comparison to the previous year. The UPC delivered a timely, crowd-pleasing event that many will remember for years to come.

Shannon Moore can be reached at [email protected] and followed on Twitter at @shannon_moore04