Charity, Ballads and Rock and Roll during Open Stage Night

On Monday the 7th December, ESN Rotterdam and SG Erasmus hosted an extra-large edition of the Open Stage Night series in the theatre of the Erasmus Pavillion. Ten performers took the stage to rock out for charity.

The evening kicked off around 8pm with a welcome speech by the ESN ladies. Always identifiable by their orange shirts and high levels of energy. They soon revealed that the evenings’ aim was not merely to entertain but also to contribute to the greater societal good. Namely: To support the Erasmus Education Fund in its noble mission to provide students with lesser economic opportunities than the ones attending the event with the chance to study. Maybe even making it possible for them to visit a future edition of the Open Stage Night. The means to do so: A charity raffle for one euro per ticket. It should be noted that the event’s entrance was free.

Clean and Distorted

After the formalities were over it was time to start with the performances. Over the course of two hours the guests were entertained with a mix of acoustic ballads and rock and roll gigs.

Two bands were present during the evening. The second act, the all-girl indie rock band Sailing, amped up the energy level on stage to eleven. At least in relationship to the previous act, two harmonious boys who covered Coldplay songs, while playing the piano. The second full band played in the last slot but until that time there were of course a bunch of other performers pleasing the crowd. The means, by which they did so were mostly cover songs ranging from Jackson 5, interpreted by Tofunmi Agbaniyaka and Patrick Sondak, over Adele’s ‘To make you feel my love’ up to traditional Brazilian songs sung by Ariovaldo Silva Junior. The exception was formed by a two person jam session. Including the rare sighting of a singing drummer. Finally, the acoustic middle part was rounded up by Tom Vrolijk & Lucky Spares, who apart from rocking out, constantly asked the audience to like their Facebook page.

A lucky winner

After all the sets were over it was time for charity. The lucky winner of the raffle had to be announced. It turned out to be Media and Business Master student Marcus Opitz. He took home a bottle of Prosecco and a VIP seat ticket for the next edition of the Open Air Cinema hosted by SG Erasmus. Then it was 10pm and the already thinning crowd poured out into the night.