For the third semester in a row, Lawnparties were marked by cloudy skies and sporadic rain. The student opener’s set was canceled due to the forecast and the concert schedule was moved up an hour the day of, but students still turned out for a full day of partying to celebrate the start of the semester.
Thunderstorms began in the morning, but the precipitation halted in the early afternoon, leaving enough time for a relatively rain-free day of festivities, including photos at the fountain in front of Robertson Hall, parties in the Eating Clubs on Prospect Avenue, and a headlining performance by EDM duo Loud Luxury, the first headliner in its genre.
Leading up to the main event in the late afternoon, various eating clubs hosted their own musical acts, including Crash Adams at Colonial Club, TREK at Tiger Inn, ZUEZUE at Cottage Club, Club Eat at Quadrangle Club, and Kaleena Zanders at Ivy Club. Strawberry Milk, the student band that opened for Spring 2022 Lawnparties headliner Flo Milli, played Tower Club. Terrace Club’s act also featured students in the classes of 2023 and 2024, with lead singer Kate Short ’23 taking center stage.
Zusha, a Hasidic folk/soul band from New York whose debut EP achieved No. 9 status on Billboard’s World Albums chart, performed under a tent at the Chabad BBQ in front of Bendheim House. The artist’s appearance was co-sponsored by the Alcohol Initiative, Gitty Webb, co-director of the Chabad House told The Daily Princetonian.
Cap and Gown Club hosted Emei, an artist with almost 1.5 million monthly Spotify listeners who gained internet fame in 2022 for her viral TikTok hit “Late to the Party.” She told a large crowd at Cap that she’d always wanted to play a show at the University because she was born at Princeton Medical Center.
The University also sponsored free food at various locations near the headliner stage. Nomad Pizza was stationed in the back of Campus Club, Rita’s Italian Ice in the front, and Taco Bell was in front of the Bendheim Center for Finance.
Weatherboy, the student rock band that was slated as the concert’s opener, also stayed home. According to an email to the student body from the Undergraduate Student Government at 9:45 p.m. on the night before the event, their set was canceled “due to uncertainties with the weather.”
"Weatherboy is definitely excited to perform in the future! Samara Samaad '25, a member of Weatherboy, wrote in a message to The Daily Princetonian "For now, we are going to keep practicing sets to grow together as a band, and we are looking to hopefully perform some Eating Club gigs in the meantime.
“I’m very disappointed that the student performers are not performing today,” Chloe Long ’26 said in an interview with the ‘Prince.’ “I think that Princeton might just be a little bit cursed,” she added, referring to the rain, “but we’ll have a good time regardless.”
Sunday’s high temperature of 78 degrees fell exactly in line with fall Lawnparties’ average temperature since 2006. The temperature was cooler than previous years, however, with fall 2022 and 2023’s high temperatures being the lowest since fall 2014.
Lawnparties this year saw rain in the morning, but conditions cleared by noon. Rain on Lawnparties day is a relatively new phenomenon. It has only rained during the Lawnparties headliner four times in Princeton history, with three of these rain events occuring in the last four years. It did not rain during a fall Lawnparties until Fall 2022, when Hippo Campus performed, and it has rained during spring lawnparties on only three occasions — 2009, 2019, and 2023.
While concertgoers avoided rain in the afternoon, the evening saw torrential rain envelop the campus. Cannon Dial Elm Club, which had planned to hold a Lawnparties afterparty on its front lawn at 8 p.m., was forced to cancel its event.
“In an unexpected change of events, we have decided that we will be CLOSED tonight due to the storms outside so we can no longer have this event,” Cannon officers wrote in an email to the student body over Hoagie Mail.
Loud Luxury still had a supporting act — Pheelz, a producer who went onstage shortly after 3 p.m. He played the Jay-Z classic “Empire State of Mind,” subbing out the words ‘New York’ for ‘Princeton.’ Pheelz was initially supposed to go on stage at 4 p.m., but the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) sent out an email earlier in the day saying that doors were opening to the main stage at 2:30 p.m. and Pheelz was performing at 3 p.m.
Loud Luxury took the stage at about 4 p.m. The duo remixed a number of crowd favorites, including Taylor Swift’s “Love Story” and their own hit, “Body.”
Loud Luxury is Lawnparties’ first foray into dance music. Previously, most Lawnparties acts have been hip-hop or rap artists. Of the five lawnparties held since the COVID-19 pandemic, three have been hip-hop or rap artists.
Loud Luxury is the 11th-most popular artist to have performed at Lawnparties when measured by Spotify monthly listeners. Rihanna is by far the most popular act to have performed at Lawnparties, more than doubling the monthly listener count of the next most popular artist, Jason Derulo.
Although certain elements of the Lawnparties schedule were shifted due to weather, many concertgoers still spoke positively about their experience.
“Lawnparties is the glue that holds the student body together,” Stephen Bartell ’25 said.
Lawnparties was held on Sept. 10 on the Frist North Lawn.
Annie Rupertus is an associate News editor for the ‘Prince.’
Ryan Konarska is an associate Data editor and staff News writer for the ‘Prince.’
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