Issue date: 8/21/07 Section: A&E

Media Credit: Laura Lengyel Tonight at Seven plays their song "August" at the Alpha Kappa Lamda welcome concert Friday night at the Woodland Hall.

The lawn outside Woodland Hall was louder than usual Friday night as the men of Alpha Kappa Lambda put on a back to school concert welcoming students back to SIUE.

The concert featured four area bands including Tonight at Seven, Nothing Still, Vincent DeMuro and Meridian Blues with acoustic performances by Charlie Shafter between sets.

"Charlie is a great musician," Jon Brecht, an AKL member and bass player for Vincent DeMuro, said. "When I first heard him I knew we had to have him play this event."

This is not the first time AKL has put on a show to start off the year, the last being in 2005 when students were welcomed by the Victory Records band The Junior Varsity and 15 Minutes Late, which are now signed with Fearless Records and have changed their name to Logan Square.

"We have been doing this for four to five years now," AKL president Chris Mueller said. "Unfortunately last year we didn't have the funding, but we decided to go ahead and do it again. It is a great opportunity to get our name out in a positive way and for freshmen to get to know each other."

The concert also gave students like freshmen Nick Warren a chance to hear some local talent they would not be subject to elsewhere.

"I'm not really from around the area," Warren said, "and I wanted to see what the local scene was like around here."

Due to other events at the university, the concert was pushed back to 9 p.m., as opposed to its original start time of 7 p.m.

"The late start might have kept a few people away, but all in all we were pleased with the turnout," Mueller said. "Usually we do this a few weeks into the school year on a Saturday afternoon and the heat will keep a few people away so we decided to do something different."

After a welcoming announcement by AKL member Matt Woods in which he also encouraged students to attend the Playfair and barbecue later in the weekend, Belleville's Tonight at Seven took the lit stage with their unique blend of pop-synth rock. St. Louis electronica quartet Nothing Still followed, along with Glen Carbon's Vincent DeMuro and Meridian Blues; a blues inspired band from Edwardsville complete with a horn section.

The concert was part of a busy weekend for AKL as they also hosted a back to school barbecue outside of Prairie Hall. The barbeque was another effort to introduce themselves to freshmen, as well as to get new freshmen to know each other better. The free event included food, a Slip-N-Slide, wiffleball and a chicken wing-eating contest sponsored by Buffalo Wild Wings.

According to Mueller, these events are just the beginning of what AKL has planned for the year.

"In September we will be concentrating more on recruitment," Mueller said. "But we will be hosting another barbecue for our charities as well as lots of things on campus throughout the year."

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