Marist SPC Hosts A$AP Ferg and LAUNDRY DAY in Annual Concert
On April 10, 2025, ASAP Ferg took the stage at Marist University's McCann Arena. Photo by Elizabeth Baumgardner '25.
Artist A$AP Ferg and pop-rock band LAUNDRY DAY took the stage in the McCann Arena for the annual Marist University spring performance on April 10. Students lined up to see both New York City-based talents with LAUNDRY DAY beginning at 9 p.m. and A$AP Ferg beginning at 10 p.m.
Even on a rainy evening, students began lining up for the event as early as 6:30 p.m. Marist’s Student Programming Council (SPC), the driving force behind the operation, opened doors to students at 7 p.m., an hour before its posted 8 p.m. door opening, with the McCann gym quickly filling to about 50% capacity. This capacity remained steady throughout the event despite SPC’s Instagram story post claiming to have completely sold out tickets only minutes after the doors had opened.
Student impressions of the opening act were positive, with the band generating its own excitement separate from the headliner.
“I’m a big fan, of course, of [LAUNDRY DAY’s] music, but also of them as people,” said Dimitri Rios ‘26. In further support of the opening act, students like Sofia Morino ‘28 flocked to the concert for LAUNDRY DAY specifically, even with A$AP Ferg as the headliner. “I’ve never seen them live before,” she said. “For fifteen bucks, I’m really excited.”
Headliner A$AP Ferg has been in the music scene since 2009, becoming one of the first signees to the New York rap collective A$AP Mob in 2010 alongside A$AP Rocky, his childhood friend. Since then, he has become known for his high-energy trap singles like “Plain Jane,” “New Level,” “Work” and a slower R&B-style ballad entitled “Dreams, Fairytales, Fantasies.” He has released seven songs charting on Billboard's Top 100 and has received 12 RIAA Platinum certifications over his career. This show marks the unofficial first of his “DAROLD” tour, which officially begins April 22 in Providence, Rhode Island.
LAUNDRY DAY, the opening act of the show, got its start in 2016 and now averages over 300,000 monthly listeners on Spotify. The four-man act pulls inspiration from Tyler, the Creator and other contemporary artists, with the NYC identity shining through their promotional materials and music. One of their highlight tracks, FRIENDS, was featured in the Netflix show “On My Block” during the season three finale and is their most listened-to song.
The special guest opener was Laundry Day, a band based in New York CIty. Photo by Elizabeth Baumgardner '25.
LAUNDRY DAY opened the concert with “Damn Shame” before moving into “Crazy Stupid Love” where students were encouraged to jump and wave a middle finger in solidarity with the song’s message of heartbreak and sacrificing oneself. The act continued with “She Knows Me,” a song the group said was unreleased. Their song “Harvard” was rebranded with Marist-themed lyrics of “Marist on my chest as I bounce around.” The act closed with a cover of Miley Cyrus’ “Party in the U.S.A.”
The band leaned heavily into the physical aspect of the concert. LAUNDRY DAY was very direct with the audience on instructions to move their bodies, making the experience just as physical as it was auditory.
Despite LAUNDRY DAY’s crowdwork, reactions from the audience were lukewarm. Rios noted that “the crowd was a little underwhelmed by the act, sadly. But I don’t think that killed [LAUNDRY DAY’s] vibe.”
A$AP Ferg opened his act strongly with several “1, 2, 3” motifs. Rather than stay on stage for his entire act, he took himself off-stage in an attempt to not relate to “bougie sh*t.”
Gunshot sound effects and constant heavy bass caused vibrations throughout the gym as A$AP Ferg walked not only up to the audience but into it, making his way from one side of McCann to the other by literally walking through the audience.
“I stood next to A$AP Ferg and danced with my friends,” said Hartley Peck ‘27. “It was kind of overwhelming since there were a lot of cameras, but other than that, it was really fun!”
A$AP Ferg also threw water bottles multiple times throughout the show while high-fiving and taking selfies with students.
The show included a tribute to A$AP Yams, one of the original three founding members and effective operational manager of A$AP Mob until his passing in early 2015, with a Yamborghini chain worn by Ferg throughout the set and a performance of “Yamborghini High,” which was a crowd favorite and a highlight of the show.
Both artists made references to their New York backgrounds during their performances, with Ferg reminding the audience he was “an East coast mothaf*cka” and LAUNDRY DAY having New Yorkers in the audience make themselves known.
The SPC concert for 2025 was a resounding success; audience energy had its peaks and valleys but was overall consistently high. This was even noted by A$AP Ferg and his DJ, referring to how “lit” the Marist student body was several times during the performance, even going as far as saying they “f*ck[ed] with our vibe.”