Down With Webster pumped up hundreds of frosh students and brought down the house during their concert Sept. 6 at Carleton.
The parking lot next to the Fieldhouse was transformed into a concert venue as the Juno-nominated Toronto band took the stage and entertained frosh students who filled the area.
Carleton’s fall orientation week always features a concert to officially kick off the school year for students participating in social orientation and this year was no exception.
Stereokid, a rap-rock group also from Toronto, opened for Down With Webster.
They worked up the crowd with a slew of covers, starting with a medley version of Daft Punk’s “Around the World” and then moving on to the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Although Down With Webster was the main act, the crowd couldn’t help but get excited during Stereokid’s Lou Reed cover.
Students were jumping as they chanted along to “Walk on the Wild Side.”
When Down With Webster finally took the stage, they immediately launched into their hit song “Time to Win.”
Throughout a 90-minute set, Down with Webster played through most of their more well-known songs including “Rich Girl$,” and their newest hit “She’s Dope.”
Red and yellow lights bathed the band as a white strobe light flickered across the crowd.
The students tightly packed in the front jumped and cheered as the band dedicated “Your Man” to all the girls in the audience, while others waved their hands sitting on the grass or dancing in the back.
Lead guitarist and vocalist Patrick Gillett, usually more reserved during shows, got a few words in before one of the songs, dedicating “Back of my Hand” to anybody who had ever been “cheated and lied on.”
Noticeably missing from the concert was hype man Kyle Fairlie, who left the band in May.
Still, the band managed to perform well despite his absence.
Rapper and vocalist Martin ‘Bucky’ Seja’s performance was the highlight of the evening, as he never stopped jumping on stage, working up the crowd, yelling and clapping, and keeping the energy level up throughout the band’s set.
Another highlight was the band’s announcement that their new album Time to Win vol. 2, was complete, after what the band said was “a way too fucking long time.”
They went on to play some new songs, including their upcoming single “Big Wheels.”
When students broke out in an impromptu verse of “Fuck you, Ottawa U,” the band surprised and delighted fans by joining in, saying “you nearly wrote our next song there.”