Frisbees, bottles, humans and, most importantly, the energy were all on the rise at Juice Jam 2010.

The festival had an eclectic mix of genres from mash-up bands to synthetic pop, but the one thing that remained constant was the buzzing energy that transferred from the stage to the audience.

After a dramatic countdown from his band and a display of timed lighting, Lupe Fiasco, the headlining act, bolted onto the stage, spinning around in circles, jumping up and down, and making sure the audience was rowdy enough for him to start his first song, ‘Shining Down.’

‘I thought Lupe was really good,’ said Courtney Lyons, a freshman sport management major. ‘His energy was so high, the music was continuous and there wasn’t even a pause between songs.’

Fiasco, a Grammy award-winning hip-hop artist most notably known for 2007’s Billboard chart toppers, ‘Superstar’ and ‘Kick, Push,’ never let the audience’s mind wander. He flowed from one song to the next, weaving new and old so the audience could keep pace with him.

From the start, crowd members were screaming, pulling out cameras and phones, and singing along with every word. Fans could not have cared less about the rain clouds that greeted Fiasco’s set. Actually, the rain seemed to egg on the masses.

‘Juice Jam was better this year. Even though the weather sucked, the rain didn’t really dampen my time,’ said Mike Spencer, a sophomore finance major.

Fiasco’s band didn’t disappoint, either. Eric Campbell, the guitarist, was shredding rifts that made the audience cheer, while drummer Big Baby Bam pounded his drumsticks, even standing up on a few songs. He also added in some well-known pop culture elements to his routine with a cover of Radiohead’s ‘The National Anthem’ and a small clip from Mr. C The Slide Man’s ‘Cha-Cha Slide.’

While Fiasco certainly didn’t slow down, he did take the time to let audience members know he was thinking of them.

‘We’re going to continue to do our jobs so that we can get you guys out of the rain,’ Fiasco told the audience, which roared in response.

While old favorites like ‘Hip-hop Saved My Life,’ ‘Kick, Push,’ and ‘Go, Go Gadget Flow,’ kept the audience engaged and singing along, Fiasco pulled some of his new material out of his bag from a yet-to-be released album titled ‘Lasers.’

The first new song, ‘Scream,’ started with a sneaking but prominent bassline, followed by ‘Lasers,’ and finally a song that had a statement for antagonists, ‘Go to Sleep.’

‘I have another new song from the record, ‘Go to Sleep,” Fiasco told the audience before he got into his newest tune. ‘I made this record for y’all. The record label is doing what they want with it, but it’s cool, they can go to sleep.’

Getting the audience into the mix, he turned the microphone out to the crowd and had them respond to situations deserving of the phrase, ‘Go to sleep.’

‘I am a huge, huge Lupe fan. He was definitely an artist that I wanted to check off of my concert list,’ said Toluwalope Okeowo, a senior communication and rhetorical studies major. ‘I was so excited when he played songs from his new album.’

When Fiasco last appeared at Syracuse University, he opened for R&B artist Ciara at the 2007 Block Party, University Union’s spring concert. Now as the headlining act, Fiasco knew what the audience wanted to hear in the end.

‘This is getting to the main event,’ Fiasco told the audience right before he performed his most recognizable hit, ‘Superstar,’ from his 2007 album ‘The Cool.’ To close out his hour-long set and the entire event, Fiasco sang the happy, upbeat ‘Daydreamin” from 2006’s ‘Food and Liquor.’

As he finished the performance, Fiasco took a look at the audience with a gracious smile before Big Baby Bam tossed his drumstick out into the crowd.

‘Lupe had the lights, the guitar and the drumming,’ Okeomo said, despite being disappointed that he didn’t perform the song ‘Fighters.’

‘He and Super Mash Bros. were my favorites.’

kaoutram@syr.edu

Published on September 12, 2010 at 12:00 pm