Coffeehouse: Students Are Merry & Bright in Liberty’s Yearly Talent Show

Around 6,000 people flocked to the Vines Center late Saturday night on Dec. 4 to attend Coffeehouse: Merry & Bright, the first in-person Christmas Coffeehouse since 2019.

For two hours, students were able to take focus off of their homework and watch their peers perform renditions of popular Christmas songs. 

Performances included TJ & Company singing “Fa La La,” the Liberty Flamettes dancing to a Christmas mash-up, We Three Strings performing an instrumental rendition of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen,” Scout and the Saints singing “Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town” and more. There were 15 acts and two student-made videos; each one featured the vast talent from Liberty students.

Student Activities Director Cort Comfort said they were excited to bring Coffeehouse back in full-force after previous COVID-19 restrictions.

“The Student Activities team couldn’t have been happier watching students from all over campus perform last night. We are lucky enough to work with the acts before they get on stage, but they always surprise us with just how talented they are,” Comfort said. “Coffeehouse is one of a small handful of campus traditions that are uniquely ‘Liberty’, and after two years off, we couldn’t be happier with how the night went.”

Freshman Sydney King is a member of D-Trex Dance Crew, a student led hip-hop ministry team. King joined the team this semester and performed with them at her first Coffeehouse. 

“I really enjoyed performing at Coffeehouse, especially since it’s my first semester here at Liberty,” King said. “I was a little nervous at first, but seeing everyone get excited while we performed was really encouraging.”

Host Anna Pender and co-host Jordan Hassler, both Student Activities staff, brought people up from the crowd to participate in a “Hot Takes” Christmas game. Pender asked the crowd to cheer for the answer they chose and each contestant guessed the crowd’s answer to three questions. For each correct answer, they received a $50 gift card.

Before the final act, Student Activities announced the theme for Coffeehouse Spring 2022, “The Great Beyond.” They introduced the theme with a video featuring scenes from Guardians of the Galaxy, Star Trek, Star Wars and more space related movies and shows. 

According to Comfort, they want the night to reflect space exploration, the space race during the 60’s and 70’s, movies and shows featuring space and the current space race between Space X and Blue Origin. 

Next semester, Coffeehouse will occur on March 26 at 11:30 p.m. Students can buy tickets for next semester’s Coffeehouse by visiting liberty.edu/coffeehouse.

Fitch is the asst. news editor. Follow her on Twitter