Wave Magazine Online Jacksonville University News Hub
It was time to let fly and let loose Thursday, Oct. 10, as pop-punkers We The Kings performed Thursday, Oct. 10, at Jacksonville University’s Larry Strom Amphitheatre.(Photo gallery by Maren Tith/JU is below.)
The Billboard-charting headline act played before hundreds of JU students, faculty and staff, who all munched on free Bubba Burgers on Dolphin Green. Alternative rockers The Well Reds opened the show.
The Bradenton, Fla., band’s second album Smile Kid (2009) included Top 40 singles “We’ll Be A Dream” (featuring Demi Lovato) and “Heaven Can Wait.” Its 2011 release Sunshine State of Mind (S-Curve Records) featured MTV winner “Say You Like Me,” and the band is at work on a new album.Three of the band’s founding members – singer/guitarist Travis Clark, guitarist Hunter Thomsen and drummer Danny Duncan – are childhood friends who formed We The Kings in high school. The band is known for using social media extensively. It has toured across the U.S. and world, and has been a main stage headliner on the Vans Warped Tour.
Alternative rockers The Well Reds of Atlanta, meanwhile, use ample harmonies and hooks. They’ve performed with acts including Hot Chelle Rae, Parachute, Minus the Bear and Automatic Loveletter. They’ve also toured throughout the Southeast and Midwest while also doing industry showcases in New York and L.A. Their debut EP Violet has enjoyed high praise, and they are at work on a new album.
Photo gallery below:
We had Aaron Copeland here at JU to a packed crowd in the Swisher Gym (bad acoustics for a musician) in either Fall Semester, 1972 or Winter Semester, 1973. Yes, winters were colder here back then; the campus lost a number of huge Royal palm trees when the balmy daytime temps dropped to a cool, 7-9 degrees above F for 2-3 nights in a row, hours on end, and icicles hanging from the Council and Founders Buildings’ flat roofs.