Block Party 2016

Weiser-Schlesinger: Fast reactions from Block Party

1. This Block Party lineup was all over the place

Not that this is any surprise, but when you take an electronic act like The Chainsmokers, a hip-hop artist like Chance The Rapper and a multi-genre R&B singer like Jon Bellion and put them in the same event, you’re going to get a pretty out-there mix of genres. In my book, this makes this Block Party a success — if you find a way to make everyone happy, you’ve made a good event.

2. Jon Bellion was all over the place

Lots of variety can be a bad thing too, especially in the case of an artist like Jon Bellion. He’s so involved and passionate about so many different kinds of music, but not really particularly notable in any of them. Even though he’s classified by most as an R&B singer, the artist dabbled in hard rock, reggae, and hip hop, and none of his performances in any of those genres were anything memorable.

3. Chance The Rapper loves his fans

Like, REALLY loves them. Unlike other artists between Block Party and Mayfest that seemed like they only showed up for the paycheck, you could tell that Chance was really happy to play for a crowd that loved him so much. He interacted with the audience after practically every song, even pausing at one point to point to individual members of the crowd to tell them, “I love you. I love you. I love you.” Even though he only has two mixtapes and a studio album on his discography, he loved the fact that the fans knew his songs, and really cared about them.

4. Drew Taggart of The Chainsmokers still has his ‘Cuse party spirit

Taggart, a Syracuse alum himself, said from the start of his set how excited he was to play for his alma mater again. He made his set one big party, integrating tons of remixes of familiar ’90s and 2000’s hits, and the crowd loved every minute of it.







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