Thursday marked A&O’s Winter Quarter Benefit concert, Icebox, held at Evanston SPACE, just south of campus.
As a newly returning event, the concert typically focuses on indie and folk music by Chicago-based artists, bringing a calmer energy to contrast the hip-hop focuses of Fall Quarter’s Blowout and Spring Quarter’s Philfest and Ball concerts. However, this year, A&O Concert Committee co-chair Eva Putnam wanted a different vibe for the benefit event.
“I liked the idea of a very immersive concert experience where attendees get to feel personal and intimate with the artists they’re seeing,” she said.
This year’s theme? A rave-inspired Boiler Room DJ set. Icebox was naturally ironic, with the intimacy of a crowd gathered in SPACE’s smaller venue warming the atmosphere. The DJ setup and low stage encouraged attendees to dance with the performers, leading to a sold-out event, a first for Benefit in A&O’s history. The electronic nature of a boiler room’s music inventory naturally contradicts the calm precedent of earlier Winter Quarter Benefit Concerts, such as A&O’s headliner Jamila Woods in 2023.
The student opener, Bienen fourth-year Lucy Rubinstein, performing under the pseudonym r00bies4ever, riled up the Wildcat crowd with mainstream house music, mainly playing instrumental tracks from Salif Keita, Alan Fitzpatrick and Elje. “I thought the student performance brought a cool school spirit to the event,” said Bienen second-year Ari Tujian.
The rave theme was brought to life by A&O’s marketing and was heavily embraced by the student attendees. The venue’s lights mimicked the electric orange, yellow, green and blue in the promotional materials, and the student body took to the vibrant atmosphere, wearing sunglasses and jerseys in the theme’s colors.
“Everyone seems so chill and is dressed to the nines, I’m having such a good time,” Medill first-year Skyler Brice said.
Headliner DJ Anastazja captivated the crowd with DJ remixes of pop and hip-hop classics, including Michael Jackson’s “Rock With You,” Kelis’ “Milkshake,” Kendrick Lamar’s “B —- Don’t Kill My Vibe,” and the Kaytranada remix of Teedra Moses’ “Be Your Girl,” arguably the most iconic electronic-R&B crossover song in recent years. The playlist’s popularity quickly synced the audience with Anastazja and livened the performance.
“I liked the mix with A$AP Rocky’s ‘Fashion Killa.’ I had never been to a boiler room before but this was amazing,” Weinberg second-year Adrian Morrison said.
However, Anastazja’s multicultural amalgamation of tracks is what really stuck with Northwestern students. Currently residing in São Paulo, she ended her set with a series of Brazilian funk and house hits to conclude the night, showcasing her pure mixing talent.
“I usually don’t like house music, but this was super tough. This has definitely changed my mind about the genre,” said Morrison.
The Benefit concert supported Interfaith Action of Evanston, a non-profit organization serving hungry and homeless people through soup kitchens and faith community events. The intimacy of Benefit’s venue and event type facilitated a similar safe space for Northwestern musicophiles and was described as an “exciting success,” per Price.
Icebox set a groovy precedent for their upcoming Ball and Philfest concerts, which hosted Smino and bLAck pARty, respectively last year, and opened the door for the introduction of other genres previously brushed past by A&O’s many concert events.
