ELLIE SKJERSAA

ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR

The week finally arrived — parents roam the campus, the stage goes up and the students gather together to listen to the artist selected for this year’s Big Blue Bash. Here to perform for USD students this fall was pop and R&B artist, Tinashe. Her popular songs “Nasty” and “2 On” brought many students out on Friday to watch her performance. Whether students were long-term fans or new listeners, this was a memorable night for Toreros.

“I was super excited when I heard Tinashe was going to perform,” USD junior Jemila Momoh said. “I really love her music, and she’s just having a great moment right now so I just love to come out and support.”

Tinashe is currently on her “Match My Freak World Tour” for her seventh album, “Quantum Baby.”  She is set to travel around North America, Asia, Europe and the UK. The album produced “Nasty,” her first song to hit the Billboard Hot 100 charts as an independent artist. After a concert in Los Angeles, Tinashe made the trip back down to San Diego to put on a Homecoming Weekend show for Toreros and visiting family members.

USD senior and TPB vice chair Sally Scott was the lead organizer of this year’s Big Blue Bash. She shared some insight into why this event is so important to cultivating a close-knit community on-campus.

“I think that having this concert is a really good way to bring people together, especially for the underclassmen just because everything is so new, and they’re kind of struggling to find identity on campus,” Scott said. “We still talk about the Aminé concert [from our freshman year] to this day, so just having a shared experience for people to talk about is a way to bond with people that you may not be as close with.”

With artists such as Aminé, Driver Era and 070 Shake gracing the stage in past years, the anticipation for the announcement of this year’s mystery performer was undoubtedly high. However, the suspense was longer than intended due to a last minute cancellation a few days before the concert by the original artist scheduled to perform.

“It has happened before in the past where an artist will cancel, it’s just kind of a question of having a quick turnaround,” Scott said. “Usually you have more weeks and months to do that, so it [was] definitely a setback.”

Regardless of these obstacles, TPB students pulled off a successful night with show stopping sets from openers DJ Veggi and the student opener Slow Tide (For more info on the student opener, see page 8). Headliner Tinashe then followed with an electrifying performance. Some students were specifically looking forward to the inclusion of Black artists that this year had to offer.

Opener DJ Veggi performing his set on USD’s campus. Ellie Skjersaa/USD Vista

“I feel like this is the first Black  artist that  USD  has  had, so I’m excited to celebrate that and have fun with my friends,” USD junior Sydney Jourdain said.

USD certainly spares no expense on the Big Blue Bash. Scott noted that with a budget of $180,000 dollars, the University is often able to find popular artists that attract many students. This money is usually split between the performer and the crew. Ultimately, the students are the main organizers behind the event.

“We, [the students of TPB] are basically given [this] budget, and we can kind of decide what we want to do with it,” Scott said. “It’s all the big details of ‘Who’s our artist going to be?’ all the way down to ‘Where’s our artist going to park?’ and ‘Who’s going to make the signs to put on the parking spot?’ At the end of the day, it’s up to the students to put it on.”

This process is certainly neither short nor simple, but the work is not in vain. The event is a great way for students to meet one another, enjoy live music on campus and see popular artists for free.

“It makes me excited going to school here knowing that they invest their money into something that’s not making them any money,” USD senior Hannah Griffith said. “It’s just for us to enjoy ourselves and have fun. For me, it feels like I’m at a school where they care about students’ life beyond just academics.”

Other students such as USD junior Ofure Ologbosele enjoy these concerts for the chance to see their favorite artists.

“I love when we have the opportunity to see different artists at our school,” USD junior Ofure Ologbosele said. “I’m a third-year, and I’ve come to these events every year, and every year they just continue to get better.”

According to USD students, the stage presence and the choreography Tinashe brought to the stage certainly made for an incredible night.

“It was even better than I was expecting,” Griffith said. “Her energy, her dancing, the lights and the back-up dancers, they were all so good. She was just a really good performer. 

Headliner Tinashe and her background dancers. Photo Courtesy of Ellie Skjersaa/USD Vista

Although organizing this event can be stressful for TPB, it paid off. Students love the opportunity to see their favorite artists live every semester, and with Olé Fest to come in the spring, only time will tell what TPB has in store.

Tinashe lights up the stage at Big Blue Bash. Ellie Skjersaa/The USD Vista