Best of Coffee House is a biannual Roosevelt Tradition. This year, there were 16 acts, playing alt rock to jazz pop. The show, which happened on October 10th in the auditorium, featured both new and returning acts.
It was put on by Mr Kevin Hawk, the guitar and recording technology teacher at ERHS. He had a host of TriM members as stage crew. Axel Ramos Diaz, a junior, was the new MC this year. He said he was “excited” and “kind of nervous.” He had done previous emceeing at the talent show and the pep rally. It was “another chance for [him] to demonstrate [his] skills.”
The opening song was Mutt, performed by Marco and Spencer. It was a full band act and set an energetic mood for the rest of the show. The song is a cover of Leon Thomas, an R&B artist.
Next was Snow Fairy by NijiBeta. It was a Japanese piano ballad and played solo. NijiBeta has played previous Coffee Houses. The song itself is by Funkist and is the opening theme to the anime Fairy Tail.
Velvet Ring was performed by Ellie and Lottie. One of the best Big Thief songs, Ellie and Lottie played it really well as a duo, even with the microphone feedback.
Then Kingson by Charlotte Coleman, a Faye Webster cover. It was really good for the first solo acoustic song of the night.
Lena and Noah played The Way Things Go, a Beabadoobee song. A great song for their first performance of the night. Before the show, they said they were “excited and nervous” but had “put a lot of work for this.” Lena said she chose the song because it’s “beautiful.”
Say Yes was performed by Pepper and Lilah. It was an Elliot Smith cover. Lilah sang, with Pepper doing guitar and backing vocals.
The Gallery, a band, played the song Outstanding, in one of the best performances of the whole show. It was one of the most uptempo songs, and during its chorus, pyrotechnics went off and lit up the whole room. It was amazing and the highlight of the whole show.
Then was Panic Attack by Joy Oladimejij. She wrote this song at Grammy Camp, she said “during one of the days of the camp, I had the amazing opportunity to work with Ben Abraham, who’s co-written for Kesha and a lot of other artists. I actually got to write this song in one of the break rooms…it’s about anxiety.”
You Are The Only Exception was played by Josephina, Alisa, and Kokie.
Mayonnaise performed by Mia and Pierre was a touch of hard rock to the setlist. A cover of a Smashing Pumpkins song, they alternated between clean and distorted guitar.
Pothole was played solo by Pepper Young, who had already played with Lilah and done previous Coffee Houses. It was an acoustic song, a cover of the emo band Modern Baseball.
I Don’t Ask For Much was played by Cam.
The last three songs were some of the best in the entire show. Lena, King, Noah, and Debeji played Let You Break My Heart. It was the second song featuring Lena and Noah, now with King on guitar and Debeji on cello.
The Catch performed Kiss Me, a song by Six Pence None The Richer.
Finally was Wild and Free, by Joy. This is her original song, before performing her song she said “it’s a song about loving your friends.” Then added “hopefully you can listen to this song and relate and feel a special way about your friends who love you too.”
Overall, this was a strong Coffee House. With a wide range of genres and Axel’s cheesy jokes. Both the performers and the audience members had a good time. After the show, with the semi-stage invasion of the flood of kids by entrance to the stage, Lena said “I feel amazing. All my friends showed up. I just very happy right now and I feel fulfilled. I’m definitely doing Coffee House again.”
Christopher Angel Rivera, a junior, said it was “a nice show. It was calm, relaxed, I’ll come again next time.” Another audience member was moved to tears. Katie Brown, a junior and former student of ERHS, went to the show to see Pepper’s performance.