Up & Up, the largest college-touring music festival, will be livestreamed from Lehigh University and other schools, featuring multiple live sets from some Lehigh performers.
The virtual event will last three days beginning Oct. 8 and will feature DJ groups like Nghtmre, Ghastly, San Holo and Ekali.
Adam Samit, ‘21, is part of University Productions, the organization that’s coordinated the event for three years. He said he got involved because of his interest in the music industry, especially live music.
“The festival offers a great opportunity for Lehigh artists to show their talent, but it is also a lot of fun to interact with people and have these headliners,” Samit said. “It’s like you’re an opening act for a big event.”
Samit said the festival is something they have done for years and it previously used to be a nationwide competition. Whichever school could get the most presale tickets would win the show.
Samit said Lehigh won in 2018 and had DJ-duo Two Friends perform at the Sands Casino. Due to COVID-19, the festival was changed to an all-virtual event.
Jasmine Banful, ‘20, is also on the coordinating team and will be performing a DJ set herself. Banful said the event will feature singers, rappers and producers.
She said she decided to get involved after seeing an ad for the event. She said it seemed like an interesting opportunity to help Lehigh students develop their talents and interact with bigger groups.
“It should be a really cool event, especially for EDM fans,” Banful said. “So far, we have a couple of DJ’s, a performer who sings and raps and a couple more student performers.”
Banful said the stream will last an hour and a half and is free. Students can register in the link in the Instagram bio, @lehigh_upandup. Banful said she will be posting information about the merchandise giveaway, tickets and content from the artists.
Ami Yoshimura, ‘23, is also involved in coordinating the event. He said their team reached out to one of the founders of the festival and pitched why Lehigh would be a great fit for the festival.
Yoshimura said the staff sends all of the music equipment and explains how to use it. Students are responsible for providing an on-campus location and organizing the event.
“We are targeting different groups on campus, hoping to spread the word and raise awareness for the event,” Yoshimura said. “We are now reaching out to a cappella groups on campus to try and get them involved.”
Although music is the main focus of the event, Samit said there is a baking competition that will be broadcasted in between each music set. The team will hold competitions throughout the week and narrow it down to two teams that will compete against each other during the livestream.
“It will be like a baking show you see on Netflix,” Samit said. “We will cut back and forth between the acts and the baking competition. Anyone who is passionate about baking can reach out and be included.”
Students can reach out to Samit at [email protected] to become part of a baking team and compete against others.
Samit said there is a talent show on Oct. 9 where students can submit videos of any talent. Two Friends will host the event and give the winner a $10,000 award.
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