Satvika Nitya / Arts & Culture Editor

USD students spent last Friday night singing and dancing at the Torero Program Board’s (TPB) annual Big Blue Bash concert on campus headlined by the musical duo, Surfaces. People dressed in costumes to commemorate the simultaneous Halloween festivities as they cheered on Forrest Frank and Colin Padalecki, the two members of the group who were also accompanied by three other musicians, as they performed at the Paseo de Colachis on Oct. 29.

Surfaces is best known among their fans for making surf, jazz, pop rock, reggae and calypso music. With over six million monthly listeners on Spotify and four studio albums, many students were excited to see them live. Screams filled the lawn when Surfaces walked on stage and opened their set with the song “Heaven Falls / Fall On Me.”

USD first-year Jonah De Leon has been listening to Surfaces for about two years.
“I’ve been a fan of them for a while, so of course I had to pull up and have fun,” De Leon said. “I have not seen them live before, so this would be my first time. And it’s cool that USD has these concerts. This is my first time at a USD concert, and it’s awesome because it is a great way to have fun with your friends.”

Enjoyment of Surfaces’ music was not limited to just fans but extended to those who had never heard of them before too. USD first-year Kai Caceres talked about coming to the Big Blue Bash without having listened to the Surfaces before.

“I have absolutely never listened to them before,” Caceres said. “Maybe I’ve heard one of their songs one time and I heard about this event and I was like, ‘I’m hyped for it even so.’ It’s my first USD concert, and I’m expecting it to be baller.”

Before Surfaces came on, USD junior Armando Vasquez- Green, who goes by the stage name DJ Mondo, came on stage as the student opener. Openers are meant to loosen the crowd and bring some energy, before the headliner performs. The crowd started off small and quiet, but by the end of his set, the crowd doubled in size and everyone danced and screamed along to the lyrics.

Vasquez-Green has been DJing for over a year, and he talked about the behind-the- scenes process of what went into performing for USD.

“TPB reached out to me and said that they’d heard my
name thrown around for student talent, and I thought it was definitely something I wanted to do,” Vasquez-Green said. “I started DJing because of my cousin, and it’s been a grind but it always pays off. It’s definitely full circle, because I remember being a freshman on this very field and being in the crowd and having fun. And now to actually get up there my junior year is definitely really exciting.”

Vasquez-Green was also accompanied by three of his other friends on stage during his set, bringing them out for support.

“If it was up to me, I would have more people up there because I love sharing moments with people that are important to me,” he said. “The people I had up there… Alaon, Tommy and Airion are like brothers to me. I call them my ‘chosen family,’ and I want them to experience those moments with me on the stage. Plus, they’re super fun. They dance and get the crowd hyped, instead of it just being me behind a laptop.”

The Friday of Halloweekend this fall semester, students all across campus came to see both DJ Mondo and Surfaces. The Big Blue Bash, hosted by TPB, kicked off Halloween weekend with an energetic start.