After days of rain, the sky over Pittsburgh cleared up for Bigelow Bash, the annual free music concert organized by the Pitt Program Council. By 1 p.m. on Sunday, the smell of fried rice, corn dogs and tacos and the bright, warm sun called students forth to the stage on Schenley Drive next to Posvar Hall.
9FiftySeven opened the event, followed by rappers My Favorite Color, Luh Tyler and headliner JID. Even if the students got antsy waiting for the performances, there wasn’t a quiet moment in the crowd. The stage’s screen entertained the audience with Hillman Library’s construction machinery, zooming in on a crane and forklift and receiving hoots and cheers in response.
The opening act was Pitt Factor winner 9FiftySeven, an indie band consisting of four undergraduate Pitt students. The band’s friends were the first ones to show up at the barricade, joking that the sky had cleared just for the event.
“Of course, it’s going to be cloudy for the eclipse but 9FiftySeven gets sun … As they should!” said Alex Borg, a sophomore German and linguistics major.
9FiftySeven were confident on stage, bopping their heads and fiddling with their instruments in matching red and black outfits. Yanelis Yelibeth Figueroa, the lead singer of 9FiftySeven and sophomore at Pitt, says she didn’t feel nervous but was more worried about crowd work.
“It was scary because I had to write down a ton to do crowd work and stuff, but they had to cut it out, but the crowd seemed to be having an amazing time,” Figueroa said.
Following their performance was WPTS Radio’s opener My Favorite Color, a rapper who went to high school in the North Hills, who began his show with a resolute “F— Dan Schneider.” His entourage, consisting of rappers and DJs, danced and sang with him. One of the performers, Elias Ferguson, offered his Cashapp QR code to the camera hoping to get some money to “fund Black creators.” He then received a request for $100 from a user named Hannah, which he mistakenly accepted. Apparently, this was a common occurrence at their concerts.
“This always happens!” Ferguson said, as the rest of his friends laughed with him.
My Favorite Color began his set with a combination of witty lines, playing jokes at his stage name and a strong flow of words to accompany him. He showed off his Burberry shark-themed sunglasses and readjusted his grills through his set. At the end of his set, the rapper gifted his laughing audience oranges, admitting that orange was his favorite color.
The final opening act was Luh Tyler, an 18-year-old rapper from Florida who signed to Atlantic Records after his song “Law & Order” went viral on TikTok. His performance was much shorter, consisting of four quick songs.
JID, the headlining rapper from Atlanta, brought up the energy quickly when he strutted onto stage, wearing his classic headband and oversized varsity jacket. He walked in calmly, only accompanied by his DJ and Pittsburgh producer, Christo Welch, and quickly got straight into rapping for the excited crowd. While he did have a setlist entirely planned, he was more excited about having students request music.
“I just wanna go with the flow here,” JID said, as students screamed for their favorite hits such as “Costa Rica,” “Stick,” “Big Black Truck” and “Kody Blue 31.” “Surround Sound,” his recent hit, blared halfway through his performance as well as Imagine Dragons collaboration “Enemy,” which according to the rapper is his “most famous song.” Most of his songs featured smooth soul samples transitioning into trap beats through the production of Christo, who stood behind JID with laptops and turntables.
JID joined the crowd twice, hopping off the stage to dance with the students by the barricade. Malia Roberts, a junior English literature major, said she got up close and personal.
“He jumped right in front of us. We moshed with JID,” Roberts said as she left the venue with her friends. Roberts was one of the first people to show up for the event.
JID left the stage after signing vinyl records, T-shirts and Kirby backpacks fans brought, as well as the few Bigelow Bash shirts students threw at the stage. A poster asked the rapper to sign the holder’s shoe again, saying that their dog ate the last one the artist had signed.
JID’s performance marked another year of a Pitt tradition that, especially with finals in a few weeks, allows students to relax and enjoy their campus in the warmer weather. Past Bigelow Bash headliners include Yung Gravy and Carly Rae Jepsen. Saniah Tuck, a first-year public health major, plans on coming back for next year’s Bash.
“JID literally did his thing. He can rap, he can sing, he had the energy. He had the crowd jumping even when not everybody knew his songs,” Tuck said. “Pitt did their big one with the Bigelow Bash. I’m definitely coming back for the next one.”
