On Thursday, March 21, FGCU Eagle Media hosted its eighth annual Eagle Radio Music Festival in front of over 200 students from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Most of the attendees were students, but local community members were welcome as well.

Planning for this year’s event started in the fall semester by the Eagle Media executive staff. More preparations were made in the spring as a lineup with eight performers and bands consisting of local musicians and students was finalized. 

This year’s artists were Sophia Lavigne, Joseph Fields, Holt & Cabe, Teahouse, Fiendish Thingies, LUVXR, DONEFOR and SigFlo. DONEFOR and SigFlo had performed at previous Eagle Radio Music Festivals. 

Leading up to the event, several of the artists took over the Eagle Radio Instagram account to advertise the event and encourage students to attend. 

“I found out about this event through a TikTok posted by Fiendish Thingies promoting the event,” senior Jenna Hall said. “They seemed like a band I would be interested in and I was looking forward to seeing them.”

Eagle Radio Programming Director Jake Schantz was one of the DJs and MCs for the event and has also been a part of planning for the past several months. He goes by “2amjake” as his DJ alias.

“During spring break earlier in March, I knew what I wanted to do and the kind of music I wanted for most of it,” Schantz said. “I decided to go based on the genre of the artists, and I contacted my friends, who are also DJs, and got their opinion on it and it eventually just formed together.”

With a loud “FGCU how we doing tonight?” exclamation, Schantz, along with freshman Zach Pinta, the other DJ and MC for the evening, kicked off the festival with his playlist. 

Sophomore Ayden Viera, who goes by the stage name “LUVXR,” wanted to observe how the student audience reacted. Viera has gotten popular among FGCU students over the past year and sees himself as an up-and-coming solo artist.

“One year ago, I tried to perform (at Eagle Radio Music Festival) but I realized my music was not good enough at the time,” he said. “From that point on I worked really hard on making my music better and now I am here this year for tonight’s show.”

Viera has recently performed at Eagle Idol, a student audition concert hosted by FGCU’s Programming Board. After a successful performance, he was selected to be one of the student openers at another upcoming concert hosted by the Programming Board, Eagle Fest. He is thankful for the opportunities he has now.

“I just want to see how my music affects the world and how I can change that,” Viera said. “Keep on supporting me and I will promise you all, LUXVR is gonna change the world!”

Other artists, such as Joseph Fields, currently perform in the Fort Myers area. Fields wants to stay within the area with other performance opportunities to grow a potential music career.

“Previously I have performed at the Close Encounter Concert at the Sidney and Berne Davis Art Center in Fort Myers,” Fields said. “I was excited when I was reached out to about one month ago to perform at Eagle Radio Music Festival. I am just a solo performer, but it is going to be really exciting.”

In addition to the music, other vendors set up to cater to the attendees at the festival. Students were given free glow sticks and a ticket to one of two food trucks. Water bottles and Red Bull energy drinks were placed in several coolers around the Library Lawn. A caricature artist and an airbrush tattoo artist provided more fun activities for the guests. 

Unfortunately, this year’s festival was marred by rainy weather. The rain lasted for over an hour and caused a good portion of the attendees to leave. However, many guests still stayed and danced as they were undeterred by the inclement conditions. The artists continued to perform despite the weather, and their equipment was safe from the rain under the Veterans Pavilion.

Some of the bands also provided free merchandise for the guests ranging from stickers to buttons. For many students, this was also the first time hearing about Eagle Media.

“I have not heard much about Eagle Radio but based on this event it seems like so much fun,” Hall said. “I thought the festival was awesome and highlighted by a bunch of underrated artists. The vendors were great too, especially the caricature and airbrush artists.”

Eagle Media will continue to host its annual Eagle Radio Music Festival during the spring semester in future years.