By Keir Bristol
By 8:45 p.m. Friday, there was a line winding down the sidewalk and around the Curry Student Center, made up of students waiting to enter afterHOURS to see a concert by the funk-infused jazz trio Soulive, presented by Tastemakers magazine.
Tastemakers, published by the Northeastern chapter of the Music and Entertainment Industry Association of America, has hosted bands like Eroica, Plastic Reverie, The Peasantry, The Blue Pages and The Passion Pit at afterHOURS since November.
The magazine’s promotional manager Robin Jennings said although Soulive played a show at Northeastern in 2005, they thought it was time to bring the group back to Northeastern.
“I knew about them for years,” Jennings said. “They’ve grown very popular over time.”
Soulive, comprised of guitarist Eric Krasno, drummer Alan Evans and organist Neal Evans, originated in Woodstock, N.Y. in 1999, according to the band’s website. Since then, Soulive has played with bands and performers like Chaka Khan, Dave Matthews and Robert Rudolph and the Family Band.
The crowd, a mix of students from Northeastern and surrounding schools, like Boston University and Berklee College of Music, was made up of Soulive fans and people who had never heard the band’s music.
Although the concert was advertised on Facebook and posters around campus, some audience members said they had just heard about he show.
Shea Geyer, a freshman pharmacy major, said she hadn’t noticed the advertising.
“My friend from BU said, “There’s this concert at your school.’ I didn’t even know about it,” Geyer said.
The crowd appeared to be growing anxious as time passed from the show’s 9 p.m. scheduled start time. But at 10:20 p.m., Soulive took the stage and began to play.
Jennings said the band got caught in traffic on the way to afterHOURS, and still had to do sound checks before the students could enter the club, which she said was the reason for the delayed start time.
Still some students said Soulive’s performance was worth the wait, with a set list that included songs like “Aladdin,” “Steppin’,” “Do It Again” and “One in Seven.”
After an hour and a half of the crowd dancing, jumping and fist-pumping, the band received a standing ovation and came back for an encore.
Lucas Johnson, a junior mechanical engineering major, said he heard about the concert through friends about half an hour before it started.
“It’s not typically the genre of music I would go out to see, but I think that it may have inspired me to go see something like that in the future. The live show is very dynamic,” Johnson said.
Emily Chase, a junior nursing major, said she thought the show was incredible and described it as an “out-of-body experience,” while sophomore music industry major Dana Chard said she was more impressed with Tastemakers for its organization of the show.
“I’ve been listening to [Soulive] for years, but it’s the first time I’ve seen them live,” she said. “Good job, Tastemakers.”
