‘Best day of my life’ at Backyard Bash 

By Madison Lewis 

From bellowing the lyrics of Hot Chelle Rae’s “Tonight Tonight” at the band members during their soundcheck to getting brought on stage, lucky Rider sophomore film and television major Kelly Williams lived out her middle school fantasies.

On March 28, Iann Dior and Hot Chelle Rae performed at Backyard Bash on the Campus Green, an event organized by the Student Entertainment Council. 

To get access to the event, as well as the four food trucks, students had to fill out a Google Form and they received their wrist bands, meal tickets and raffle tickets on the Bart Luedeke Center patio. Fan-favorite food trucks outlined the perimeter of the bounded-off area for concert-goers. 

A square-shaped portion of the Campus Green was blockaded with a thin, white string with flag embellishments, and along the edge of one of the sides was a stage that was enhanced with light fixtures and a DJ booth. 

Throughout the concert, the wristband-donned crowd grew, and ran toward the foot of the stage to get front-row views.

Students could choose to pair their musical experience with a culinary experience, with food from a variety of food trucks.

In an exclusive interview with The Rider News, Nash Overstreet, the guitarist, and Jamie Follesé, the drummer of Hot Chelle Rae, joked about a fan interaction they had during  soundcheck.

“This girl was solo, running through the lawn; singing at the top of her lungs,” Overstreet said.

“She was crushing it,” replied Follesé.

The two band members joked about adding her to the group and that she was under contract.

When Hot Chelle Rae performed, fog emerged from the front of the stage and colorful lights illuminated the three band members.

The lead singer that night was Hudson Thames, who is the voice actor for the 2025 “Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.” 

Hot Chelle Rae played a mix of their own music, like “Tangerine” and “Tonight Tonight.” They also did a rendition of  “Lazy Song” by Bruno Mars and the crowd waved their arms and clapped along to match the rhythm of the music.

The band has been touring colleges for about three years and took notice that the crowds still remember their early-2000s tracks.

“A lot of the people that we end up playing for are people that grew up with our music and are now in college. So it’s really fun to … see that connection happen for them,” said Follesé. 

At one point, the band members recognized the student that yelled at them during soundcheck, and brought her on stage to sing their most popular song and the one, “Tonight Tonight.”

“This has been the best day of my life,” said Williams. “Hot Chelle Rae was one of the bands that kept me going when I was being bullied, so they … had significant impact in my [upbringing].” 

Williams, who listened to Hot Chelle Rae since she was in middle school, went to the concert solely to see the band that transformed her childhood experience.

As a parting gift, Follesé gave Williams his drumsticks; she was ecstatic and shared she will find a place to display them.

For the student body, Follesé and Overstreet provided advice. 

“Be ready to feel like you are failing, but as long as you continue on, you will succeed eventually,” said Follesé. 

Iann Dior and his DJ, “G” were headliners at the Backyard Bash.

“You want to hear some throwback s—?” Blue lights beamed at Dior and smoke engulfed the stage as the popular 2019 song, “romance361,” blasted from the speakers.

He played some of his popular songs like “Good Day,” “gone girl” and “All My Exes.”

Dior asked the crowd to give him memorabilia to sign, and one student offered him a packet of nicotine patches, or Zyns.

Dior responded with “I am nicotine-free these days.”

The Rider News had an exclusive interview scheduled with Dior before the show, but his manager said he was feeling unwell and canceled the meeting.

After Dior exited the stage, the SEC conducted a raffle, with prizes ranging from blankets to bluetooth speakers.

Crowd members eagerly awaited the numbers to be called, hoping they had the golden ticket.

As a member of the SEC read out each number, the audience would respond in a cadence of “yeahs” or “nos” depending on whether or not their ticket reflected the numbers being called.

Hot Chelle Rae left Rider with an uplifting sentiment that resonates not only with students in music production or musical theater, but a mindset that encourages them to keep making art in any capacity.

“Sometimes a genius does not get liked by a lot of people that are also making that art, but maybe the world would love it,” said Overstreet.

Check out our photo gallery here: https://theridernews.com/photo-gallery-backyard-bash/

Check out our video exclusive here: https://theridernews.com/video-backyard-bash-and-interview-with-hot-chelle-rae/