Prom season is starting early this year, so grab your My Chemical Romance T-shirt, favorite black lipstick and combat boots and head to ACRN’s Emo Prom on Saturday night.
Last year, ACRN held an ‘80s prom — ruffles and all — but this year, it hopes to draw in a whole different crowd of people with the prom’s unconventional theme.
Emo Prom will be held at The Union Bar and Grill, 18 W. Union St. Attendees can expect to sing their melancholy hearts out to local and regional bands Sneakthief, Vacation and Tweens.
Detroit band Mover Shaker was initially scheduled as the headliner but was forced to drop out on Thursday due to car troubles, according to a tweet from ACRN.
Emo Prom will also feature a photo booth and a live auction to win items from local businesses, like an hour of tattoo work from Skin Hooked, 8 N. Court St., and gift cards to Donkey Coffee and Espresso, 17 1/2 W. Washington St., and Bagel Street Deli, 27 S. Court St.
Ally Campbell, a junior studying journalism and the PR director for ACRN, didn’t go through an emo stage herself, but she’s hoping people will really get into the theme and come decked out in their best emo attire.
“Personally, I don’t know how to be emo, so I’m just going to be wearing all black,” Campbell said. “But I’m hoping people have fun with it.”
Last year’s prom had about 150 people coming and going, Campbell said, but this year ACRN is expecting more.
“Our last event at The Union was Battle of the Bands, and it was packed to capacity 10 minutes into the show,” Campbell said. “I’m hoping that event brought enough publicity to ACRN for people to come out for Emo Prom.”
All of the money raised at Emo Prom will be going to ACRN’s annual music festival, Lobster Fest. Lobster Fest is ACRN’s biggest event of the year, so Campbell is looking forward to putting on another prom in hopes to raise money for that.
“It’s a fun community event open to anyone 18 and up,” Campbell said. “We’ll have local, as well as regional, acts that I hope people come out to listen to and enjoy.”
Diana Buchert, a senior studying recording industry studies and the promotions director for ACRN, helped in choosing the bands that would perform at Emo Prom.
ACRN will have Sneakthief perform at Emo Prom. Sneakthief, based in Athens, played in ACRN’s Battle of the Bands, so having the group back for another evening of music is one Buchert is looking forward to.
“They’re just a super good time, and their sound is straight-up emo, folky,” Buchert said. “(Sneakthief) just gets the crowd going honestly. They’re just a really great and fun energetic group.”
The second band performing at Emo Prom is Vacation, based out of Cincinnati. Vacation is more harder rock than just straight up emo with a little bit of punk infused as well, Buchert said.
Tweens, announced as the replacement for Mover Shaker on Thursday, is a Cincinnati-based trio that self-describes its sound as “trash pop.”
With all those bands together, Buchert thinks it’s going be a fun, energetic mix that she hopes a lot of people will get nostalgic over and reflect on their emo times and rock out — including herself.
Buchert went through her own emo phase in middle school when she would write all over her bright orange converse while listening to her favorite band, Paramore.
“When I was in middle school, I tried to be an emo girl who fluffed up her hair, but I was terrible at it,” Buchert said. “But an attempt was made.”
Emo Prom is Buchert’s time to channel her inner middle schooler, but with better style. She’s excited to wear a long, sheer black dress she thrifted for the evening.
“It’s really fancy, and I like to get fancy for our events we’re running,” Buchert said. “I’m gonna do some red eye shadow too and get real emo with it.”
Abby Jeffers, a freshman studying journalism, is looking forward to attending her first ACRN prom.
“I didn’t get to go to ACRN prom last year, but I heard it was a blast, and I’m excited to see how Emo Prom plays out,” Jeffers said.
This article has been updated to reflect the most recent reporting after Mover Shaker dropped out and was replaced by Tweens.
