Students at the University of Southern California gathered together Wednesday night for an acoustic performance by New York natives, Straylight Run, who played with the support of up-and-coming talent Cavil At Rest.
The venue was at a favorite hangout spot among USC students: an on-campus coffee shop, which was just perfect for a set like this. Students were sitting on couches, standing along the sides, kneeling on the floor, lying on pillows — anywhere that made them feel comfortable — while sipping hot coffee or drinking tasty milkshakes.

However, just minutes before the show, the fire alarm went off, forcing everyone to be evacuated and delaying the anticipated concert by 45 minutes. No fire was found. It was a false alarm. Despite what some people may have thought, this did not seem to faze the audience or the band members at all. Once everything was sorted out, everybody just returned to their previous positions and waited for the show to begin.

Cavil at Rest opened the show with an interesting set, involving incredible harmonization and unique instrumental arrangements. I must say that they have a very distinctive sound that is quite hard to peg. Nevertheless, their set was great and the audience seemed to like it.

After that short set, Straylight Run took the stage. Straylight Run is a phenomenal band, consisting of sibling frontpeople, John Nolan (vocals/guitar/paino) and Michelle DaRosa (vocals/guitar/piano) as well as Shaun Cooper (bass) and Will Noon (drums). Some of you may recognize some of the members as part of rock bands Taking Back Sunday and Breaking Pangaea.

Nolan and DaRosa’s voices and stage presence complemented each other very well. John had a very strong and powerful voice, which turned into an occasional scream here and there (a small reminder of his Taking Back Sunday days), while DaRosa had more of a smooth, cool voice that just drew you in. Their performance was just beautiful and captivated everyone in the audience. I only wished that the sound system was slightly better. It tended to get a bit unclear at some points in a song. However, their record is lovely and wonderfully written. No one can argue that this band lacks talent.

All in all, the show was an excellent way to end my night and I highly recommend you check them out.

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