Arts

The Dean’s List Draws a Crowd to the Den

The concert was scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. Friday night, but students began arriving around 7 p.m.

Ten minutes before showtime, the patio outside the Den was packed, with students crammed against the glass dorms, screaming to be let in.

Anyone who arrived at 8 had no hope of getting into the highly-anticipated The Dean’s List performance.

The Dean’s List combines hip-hop, rap and pop. The trio, composed of Sonny Shotz, DJ Mendoza and Mik Beats, is popular on the college and preparatory school scene and is growing in popularity around the country.

Based out of Boston, the three friends write, record and produce all of their own music and perform across the country in different schools and cities.

As the doors of the Den opened, students burst into the room, pushing and shoving their way to the front. They formed a large mob near the stage.

The Dean’s List performed some of their songs from their album “The Drive In” while students jumped and danced to the beat.

The performers’ interaction with the audience before, during and after the concert energized the crowd.

Andrew Vallejos ’14 said, “My favorite part was when the Dean’s List asked us to rage.”

For a memorable and boisterous finale, The Dean’s List performed their most popular song, “Dear Professor,” a mix that combines the hit “When I Die Young” by The Band Perry with the The Dean’s List ‘s own beats and rapping.

Clark Perkins ’14, one of the concert’s organizers, said, “I thought it was great how they pulled Brianna [Barros ’12] up on stage and got the whole crowd really into the last song of their performance.”

Two acts opened for The Dean’s List, contributing to the real concert atmosphere, but muttering from the audience suggested that the acts created a sense of tedium.

The first act, performed by Gilbere Forte, a rapper and hip-hop artist from Philadelphia, Pa., pumped up the crowd for the evening.

However, by the second opening act, featuring OnCue, a rapper and hip-hop artist from Hartford, Conn., students started to become a little impatient and restless.

Meera Bhan ’14 said, “I walked in and out of the concert many times, and at the beginning I didn’t even realize that the people performing weren’t The Dean’s List. When The Dean’s List finally performed, I was like, ‘hey, they’re not so bad,’ but by then it was already 9:30. Overall, it was a bit disappointing.”

Iman Masmoudi ’14 agreed, saying, “[The concert] took too long. It was fun at the beginning, but then I got bored.”

Despite the concert’s slow beginning and the wait for the appearance of The Dean’s List, the evening was deemed a huge success by most of the students who attended and set a new standard for all future concerts at Andover.

“I had a great time at the concert, and, from what I’ve gathered thus far, the student body genuinely enjoyed it and [was] satisfied by the performers,” said Perkins after the concert.

Perkins and Malachi Price ’13 first had the idea for The Dean’s List concert last year.

Perkins said, “I was impressed by The Dean’s List music immediately [after I discovered the band], but I did not entertain the idea of having them come to Andover for a concert until the end of Fall Term [2010]. I had a discussion about the lack of student interest in weekend events with my friend Malachi Price, and we decided that a concert would be a great way to welcome students to campus in the fall and spark student interest in weekend activities going into the new school year.”

Perkins and Price worked very hard to organize the concert. Perkins said, “We contacted the group’s agent, and after a couple months of emails and phone calls, we came to an agreement, set a time and date and submitted an Abbot Grant. Although the process was a little difficult at times, the Abbot Academy was incredibly generous, which made everything much easier.”