Daylo, a five-piece band comprised of students from the University of New Hampshire (UNH), sold out Newmarket’s Stone Church on Thursday in anticipation of releasing their debut EP.
Thought it wasn’t Daylo’s first time performing at the venue, according to keyboardist and junior outdoor education major Chase Retrosi, the show was projected to be their “biggest crowd yet and definitely the best.”
The band has acquired quite the following at UNH and surrounding towns, resulting in one or two shows a month for the group who will be celebrating their one-year together this March. For this show alone, 173 people RSVP’d via Facebook.
The outcome was one that sold out the Stone Church’s capacity by 10:20 p.m., 10 minutes before Daylo hit the stage. Late students were turned away at the door.
“Everyone you know is going,” senior recreation management and policy major Alex West said.
“I’ve wanted to go for a while, and finally went because all my friends were,” she said, adding she has heard good things about Daylo in the past.
She also wanted to support her friends, Retrosi and guitar player Nick Paul, whom she was a PAWS (pre-orientation) leader with.
West’s friend, senior biomedical science major Madison Jones, went as a way to “get off campus” and “see familiar faces,” whom she said she recognized everywhere.
The band started their performance with a new song, “In Crush.” Instantly, the crowd welcomed back the band they missed over winter break – their last show being the weekend after Thanksgiving break.
Sophomore journalism major, Caroline Fitzgerald, had never seen Daylo before, but after the first song, she said she “felt alive.”
One of the band’s arguably more recognizable songs, “Sister,” resulted in a mosh-pit and crowd surfing of several people. Some students were even singing along to the lyrics lead singer, Sophia Kurzius, a junior journalism major, wrote.
The band performs mainly songs they have written themselves. They sang seven songs that were written by them and did three covers – “So Tired,” by Crumb, “Can’t Take My Eyes off of You,” by Frankie Valli, and “Benny and the Jets,” the famous Elton John song.
“Benny and the Jets” was dedicated to Daylo’s friend, Ben Bursell, who recorded their EP (a five-song mini-album) that was set to be released Thursday, but was involved in a car crash that resulted in a push back of the release, Kurzius explained to the crowd.
Together, Daylo Facetimed Bursell from the hospital, showing the crowd his smiling face, to which the phone was then taken by an audience member and passed around, so he could enjoy.
After the fact, Kurzius said that Bursell was “so happy” by the gesture.
Following the impromptu Facetime, Daylo performed a handful of additional songs, but by the end of their tenth, Retrosi yelled “now get out of here!” The crowd dispersed at 11:30 p.m. and the band said their goodbyes.
“The crowd had good energy and that helped [me] feel electrified,” Kurzius said. “It’s a crazy feeling seeing people singing along,” she said about the show.
“It went awesome,” Retrosi agreed, staying true to his statement before the show started.
Daylo’s next performance is next Friday at the Memorial Student Union’s (MUB) Entertainment Center for MUSO’s Battle of the Bands.
Sophia Kurzius is a staff writer for The New Hampshire.