The weather forecast didn’t seem promising on the morning of All Campus Entertainment’s (ACE) long-awaited Spring Fling event on Saturday. But spirits remained high, with students breaking out their jackets and umbrellas to watch three student bands perform, competing for the chance to open for indie pop artist Del Water Gap, the event’s headliner.
This year marked the third Spring Fling since ACE brought back the annual concert in 2023 following a pause during the COVID-19 pandemic. The student bands — T.Y.P.O., Lotus Eaters, and Space Bar — each played approximately 15 minute sets, stage time that they secured by winning at the Battle of the Bands in February.
Following the three bands’ performances at Spring Fling, students cast online votes to indicate which group they would like to perform an encore performance before Del Water Gap took the stage. Ultimately, Space Bar accumulated the most votes, winning for the second year in a row.
The first student band to take the Science Quad stage was T.Y.P.O. Clad in matching multicolored rain jackets, they took to the stage and performed a cover of “Talk it up” by Sammy Rae and the Friends — a call-back to the 2023 Spring Fling headliner.
The rest of the band’s diverse setlist reflected its range, encompassing genres from jazz-fusion to country. Its performance had dozens of students singing along to well known classics such as “9 to 5” by Dolly Parton and “Pretty Young Thing” by Michael Jackson.
“This has been a dream of mine forever,” vocalist Caitlin Striff-Cave ’27 said in an interview with the Record. The group — made up mostly of sophomores — just started playing together last fall, but has been planning to get the band together since early in their first year.
“[Last year,] we would text each other songs and be like, ‘When we start our band, let’s do these songs’” guitarist Remy Perry ’27 said. “And then over the summer we were like, ‘Let’s actually get this rolling.’” Other band members include keyboardist Zaki Andoh ’28, bassist Kajus Walsh ’27, guitarist Kai LaMothe ’27, drummer Sachin Kirtane ’26, saxophonist Ignacio Feged ’27, and trumpet players Ethan Striff-Cave ’27 and Max Rhie ’28.
Lotus Eaters were the next group to take the stage. Carlton Roe ’27 and his bandmates, guitarist Felix Barman ’27, guitarist Temani Knight ’27, vocalist Kez Osei-Agyemang ’27, violinist Jazmine Morenzi ’27, drummer Kai LaMothe ’27, and keyboard player Emmanuelle Monahan ’25, played a funky and guitar-heavy set. The group came together as a result of casual jam sessions that started last fall, they explained.
A highlight from their performance was the original “I felt the sun,” written by Osei-Agyemang and Barman. They were the only student band to perform an original song at the event.
“We try to have a wide net, and [we] try to have as many genres in our sound as we can.” Roe said. Some of the other songs they performed included “Could You Be Loved” by Bob Marley and “Voodoo Child” by Jimi Hendrix. “That was picked because our guitarist, Temani, absolutely kills it, and he does a great solo,” Roe said. “He designed the way that [we] play the song. It’s a little bit different [from] the album version.”
Finally, Battle of the Bands winner Space Bar — composed of Katherine Bai ’26, Cooper Johnson ’26, Sachin Kirtane ’26, Mike Ma ’26, Kai LaMothe ’27, Tzevi Schwartz ’26, and Cole Whitten ’26 — performed an electric setlist.
Formed three years ago, the band specializes in groovy renditions and mashups of 2010s pop classics. “Everyone in the group has a wide variety of genres they like… but we ultimately chose the 2010s pop genre because of our audience,” Kirtane said. “We want to make sure [that] everyone has a fun time and that we are being accessible to everyone.”
In its first set, Space Bar performed “Beauty and a Beat” by Justin Bieber and Nicki Minaj, followed by a mashup of “Bang Bang,” by Jessie J., Ariana Grande, and Nicki Minaj and “Domino” by Jessie J. The band closed its first set with another mashup of “Clarity” and “Stay the Night,” both by Zedd.
“We chose to do two mashups because they keep our performances of these somewhat old songs fresh and alive,” Johnson said. “We tried to find little special places in the mashups where the audience could be engaged with us.”
Following its performance, Space Bar had to prepare quickly for its encore. “We were really grateful to win for the second year [in a row],” Kirtane said. “However, winning the thing wasn’t the most rewarding part — it was getting to perform again and continue the fun we were having on stage.”
For its encore, the band revived two of its favorite covers: “Into You” by Ariana Grande, which it performed at last year’s Spring Fling, and “Call Me Maybe” by Carly Rae Jepsen, which it performed at the Battle of the Bands in February.
Johnson noted that Spring Fling is an important performance venue for student bands on campus. “I think it’s great for student bands to have something like this to work towards, because there aren’t a ton of opportunities for student bands to perform on campus,” he said. “It’s really amazing to get to perform on a real stage with good mics and a professional sound system,” Kirtane added.
