Concerts, special events set the stage for a semester of excitement

As students begin to arrive on campus next week, Liberty University’s Student Activities Office is rolling out the red carpet and lining up a semester full of fun and engaging events and concerts — from Fall Welcome Week and the annual Block Party this month to Christmas Coffeehouse in December.

Concerts and other events will return to full capacity this school year, after COVID-19 health and safety guidelines limited crowd sizes throughout 2020-21.

“Events this year will feel like a return to normal, so that’s exciting, by the vision of our president (Jerry Prevo),” said Director of Student Activities Cort Comfort.

Welcome Week events include a jazz night, bingo night, outdoor open mic, and outdoor movie night featuring “Godzilla vs. Kong” on the Academic Lawn, with Student Activities staff working in partnership with multiple academic departments and CASAS to give away plenty of free swag throughout the week.

“We’re very excited,” Comfort said. “We’ll be doing an event in the Food Court at Reber-Thomas for Thursday and Friday lunch (on Aug. 19-20), where students can come and sit and have a full stage set up for 2000s-era rock band jam sessions.”

At the end of their first week of classes, which start Aug. 23, students can unwind and make new friends at the annual Block Party, from 5-10 p.m. Aug. 28 in the LaHaye Parking Lot.

“It will be a fun show,” Comfort said. “There will be inflatables and rides, carnival food, and great vendors from around the city coming to partner with Liberty University and showcase what Lynchburg has to offer to the student body.”

Headline performers include FLAME, a Dove Award-nominated Christian rapper from St. Louis who released his 11th studio album earlier this year, and Aaron Cole, a hip-hop artist signed by Gotee Records in 2017 who has recorded songs with that label’s founder, Liberty alumnus TobyMac.Apollo LTD, a pop-rock band from Nashville, Tenn., RICHLIN, another Gotee artist, and Scout and the Saints, led by Liberty alumna and Worship Collective vocalist Scout Powell (daughter of Mac Powell of Third Day fame) will also bring their unique styles and play original songs in a wide range of genres.Tauren Wells, formerly the lead vocalist for Royal Tailor who has now launched his solo career, will appear in concert with Riley Clemmons on Sept. 17 in the Vines Center to kick off the year’s first College For A Weekend (CFAW) from Sept. 16-18.

In June, Clemmons, 21, was the youngest nominee for Female Artist of the Year at the 9th-annual K-Love Fan Awards, held in her hometown of Nashville. Wells also serves as worship leader at Lakewood Church in Houston.Christmas Coffeehouse will take place Dec. 4 in the Vines Center with auditions set for Oct. 18, 19, 21, and 23 in the LaHaye Event Space.“Each year, it’s very interesting to see the freshmen experience Coffeehouse for the first time,” Comfort said. “This will be the first year where we’ll see the freshmen and sophomores and even some juniors (experience it for the first time), which will make it unique in its own right.”This past semester, while streaming the event online, Student Activities staged two late-night showings of its Spring Coffeehouse to double the size of the socially distanced in-person audience.

“Still, it was nothing like 8,000 people in a room, and that’s what we’re going to do this year for Christmas,” Comfort said. “The Vines Center is all production, all events, all entertainment now. It’s going to be a blast.”The Student Activities staff works with Event Production Manager Kristian Stevenson in providing the best quality sound and lighting for its stages inside Liberty’s spectacular facilities.“As far as set-up goes, we have one of the best event production offices in the area,” Comfort said. “They do all of our concerts and Convocations. They’re a great team, and we’ve had a very uniquely great relationship with them over the years. They’re getting the stages in, putting the lights in, making sure everything runs right, that everything sounds right. They do all of our movies and open mic nights, too. Anything that requires a production element — video, live music — they’re on top of all of it.”