Too cool for school! Glare headlines off-campus concert

Jacob Downey

He/Him

Editor-in-Chief

11/20/23

Last Monday night, The Barn Door Hostel hosted an intimate indie concert headlined by South Texas alternative/shoegaze band Glare. The concert was planned by senior Olivia Pierog who got in contact with Glare after the band had to cancel the Canadian leg of their 2023 tour and were looking for a venue between Portland, Maine, and Rochester New York. Acting as WPCR’s events coordinator, Pierog approached Glare to schedule a concert on campus.

Pierog recounted having followed Glare for a long time, playing them on her radio show, “The Plym Underground”, frequently. “They posted that for whatever reason, they couldn’t get all of their passports in time to go on the Canadian leg of their tour”, she said. “So I reached out to them and asked if they’d be, you know, willing to do a show with a humble college radio station. And they said they’d be down and to talk to their agent.” Pierog reported getting mixed responses from Student Life and ultimately elected to hold the show off-campus. Openers were gathered from local artists Pierog plays on her radio show, including the Faith Ann Band, Alchemy, and senior Avery Hazelton. 

Alchemy’s set in particular saw the room get rowdy with even Barn Door Hostel owner David Cook getting involved in some light thrashing. The venue itself was complete with mood lighting and a psychedelic-adjacent projector set up. Attendant Mya Renkainen described the show as “For a little venue [that’s] like so cozy and so small I think it went fucking amazing,” continuing that she was excited to see bands she’d been following for so long perform adjacent to campus.

Glare guitarist Toni Rodas was a fan of the more intimate vibe of the show and saw it as a nice change of pace, claiming to feel weird performing on big stages. She shared that the audience seemed really cool and appreciated that “…people seem to like really just vibe and shit.”

The next WPCR show will be held on campus on Dec. 2, with the lineup to be announced in the coming days. Pierog hosts a weekly program on WPCR Saturdays from 9-11 PM. For more Glare, they can be found on Instagram @glare.tx and on your streaming service of choice.