Pop punk band COIN jammed out with colorful light and fog machines all over the stage on Sept. 4 at the Renaissance Coliseum at the annual Live! On Main concert hosted by ACBU.
The event was one of the first big events hosted by ACBU for the year since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, with over 350 attending.
Morgan Dunham, a senior public relations and advertising major and the vice president of ACBU, looked at all of the details to make the event possible.
“We are very pleased with how this went,” Dunham said. “We were worried about all the COVID stuff and making this work. Even booking a band right now is really hard, but everyone seemed to be super happy and had a great time, so we are really proud.”
The bright and alternative pop rock group played an hour-long setlist. Lead singer and synth player Chase Lawrence danced around the stage to songs such as “Talk Too Much” and “Crash My Car.”
“We wanted something upbeat and fun that people could dance to,” Dunham said. “Everyone is sick of quarantine and sitting around, so we were like, ‘We want people jumping and happy and dancing and being happy to be together.’ This was the last day of Welcome Week, and I think we ended it on a bang.”
The concert was the band’s debut after having to take a break from performing due to COVID-19 and fans cheered for the show.
Grace Conley is a senior social work major and has been a COIN superfan since she was in high school. Standing in the front row, it was clear that she is no stranger to the group’s discography.
“I saw them in 2018 and then again in 2019 for my birthday,” Conley said. “I couldn’t see them in 2020, obviously, and in the next couple of months I will be going to see them again in St. Louis.”
Conley had been looking forward to seeing COIN perform again, and she hadn’t realized that Bradley was bringing her favorite music group to campus.
“I was so floored. I found out just through a random sign on campus,” Conley said. “I had no idea because I don’t have a lot of social media, and I got so excited and I was like, ‘Is this the same COIN that I know?’”
After the concert had closed and the lights had been turned back on, Conley received a souvenir from the band: their setlist for the night.
“I am so hyped; I have such good energy,” Conley said. “I love COIN, and I am probably going to go cry at home about this.”
