Thursday night, BU Central hosted their second open mic night of the year.
The third Thursday of every month, BU Central puts on BU for Show, an open mic night where student performers of any genre can sign up to show off their skills.
According to the event manager, Allison Macika (CAS ’14), the event usually draws in 15 to 20 performers.
“About half perform stand-up and the other half play acoustic guitar and sing,” she said.
This time, the event was much smaller than usual. There were only five performers, three of which played guitar and sang, and two who performed stand-up comedy.
The singers performed a mix of contemporary and older covers, playing everything from Kansas’ “Dust in the Wind” to Ed Sheeran and Passenger’s mashup of “No Diggity” and “Thrift Shop.” A stand-out performance was a cover of Lorde’s popular single “Royals” by open mic regular Sarah Berns.
The two comics joked about school life and personal experiences, talking about things like going to hockey games and waiting in line at Starbucks. After making a joke about black holes, junior Sameer Farooq (CAS ’15) quipped, “science joke sponsored by viewers like you.”
Like most of the night’s performers, Farooq is a regular. He’s been performing stand-up at the open mic nights since his freshman year and credits them with helping him get comfortable on stage.
“It’s a nice community and the stage time is really nice, too,” he says, explaining why he returns to BU Central. He adds, “It’s a really low-stakes environment, so it’s a good way of testing new stuff.”
His friend, singer and guitarist Aaron Kaufman (CAS ’15), echoes his statements.
“I really like the strong sense of community,” he says. “And it’s nice to build up performance experience.”
Interested in performing at BU for Show? Head to BU Central the third Thursday of every month–sign ups start at 8:30. The next one will be held on November 14th!
