Artists Lyn Lapid, Blxst and two student-openers performed at the show
By GRACIELA TIU — features@theaggie.org
On Oct. 4, 2025, ASUCD’s Entertainment Council (EC) hosted Sunset Fest, the university’s annual fall quarter concert, at UC Davis Health Stadium. The free event — exclusive to undergraduates — featured headlining artists Lyn Lapid and Blxst, along with student openers Thai T and DJ Ami.
Known as ASUCD’s annual welcome-back concert, the event had a wide reach of over 5,000 attendees, with EC reporting that all available tickets had been claimed. The night also featured food vendors, water stations, photo spots and tabling by various ASUCD units.
The EC team members strategically chose the 2025 lineup to curate a specific energy and mood for the event.
“For this year’s Sunset Fest lineup, we wanted to go with something a little more chill and just kind of ease students back into that transition into UC Davis life,” Abby Wong, assistant director of EC and a fourth-year design major, said. “So with Blxst and Lyn Lapid, we know they’re pretty popular, especially on the West Coast. And we thought both of them have a very nice chill vibe to match the warm tones of this year’s Sunset Fest theme.”
Student opener Thai T, whose real name is Trevor Thai, came onto the stage around 6:15 p.m. The fourth-year global disease biology major and West Coast R&B music artist performed to a relatively small and growing crowd, but still brought an enthusiastic, pumped-up energy to his set. The night marked his first performance, and though most students did not know his songs, he still heavily interacted with the audience and tried to engage them with his mood-varying R&B tracks.
The Sacramento-based artist described how this opportunity gave him the chance to improve his performance style and learn from the headliners after him.
“The biggest thing I’m taking away from this performance is definitely the first experience of performing ever, and then how I’m gonna make it even better next time,” Thai said. “More crowd control, like Lyn Lapid [was] doing — I like how she’s making the crowd sing her songs. I know it’s harder because I’m an opener and nobody knows my stuff.”
Towards the end of his performance, Thai T said goodbye to the audience and began leaving the stage before the DJ onstage stopped him, telling him he was supposed to perform one more song. The surprise stunt ended with one of his most energetic songs yet, before the performer said his true goodbye. He later revealed in an interview that the moment was a last-minute, scripted idea for the performance, thought of by his friend in the sound booth.
“One of the guys […] was recommending it to me,” Thai said. “I was like, ‘Bro, that’s sick.’ It was a really good idea and I just used it. Apparently, I faked out the audio people, too.”
The night continued with DJ Ami, the stage persona of Amadeus Alcala, a third-year environmental engineering major. He made his introduction at 7 p.m. with a slow transition into a jungle-esque percussion beat that faded into a remix of TV Girl’s “Lovers Rock.”
During his performance, which featured electrifying house-style beats, the sun finished setting, allowing the technical production to truly shine. The lights came on throughout the songs, smoke started blowing in front of the stage and the jumbotron lit up, featuring meme videos and animated visuals. Throughout the set, the crowd continued growing, and more concert-goers got the chance to see DJ Ami radiate a genuine love for his craft.
“Performing at Sunset Fest as a student artist is huge for me,” Alcala said. “My friends and family are super supportive when I share music I’ve made, mixed or curated. Even at work — I cook in a kitchen and they’ll let me play my sets or songs while we do our thing. I really just want to put everyone on some happy tunes that I think they’ll like.”
After DJ Ami exited the stage, students eagerly waited for the next performer, Lyn Lapid. Students on the outer edges of the field ran towards the stage and cheered delightedly as she came out.
Her performance featured many of her most popular songs, including “Buzzkill” and “In My Mind,” and even included a recently released song, “The Simlish Song.” The audience size continued to grow during her performance as more students gained entry into the event, and Lapid made sure to keep everyone engaged. While talking between her set, she shouted out her Filipino heritage and led a UC Davis chant. She did her best to connect with the attendees, even though she briefly mistook the campus as being in Sacramento and not Davis (which she later attributed to a lack of knowledge of California’s geography).
“For me, it was really cool to see an artist who came up through social media,” Sophie Cabrera, a third-year art history major, said. “It makes it seem so attainable — I love music and I love seeing people create, so seeing a song I heard in 2020 on TikTok performed in front of so many people at UC Davis was a really cool experience.”
The final performance of the night began shortly after 9 p.m. and spotlighted Blxst, an R&B and soul-inspired rapper, singer and songwriter. During his set, he brought out singer Cheyenne Wright, whose vocals supported the high-energy yet emotionally potent tone set by his music.
With 6.2 million monthly Spotify listeners at the time of the concert, Blxst’s presence as a headliner excited many students.
“His energy was insane, and I feel like he tried to interact with the crowd a lot,” Andrea Ngo, a second-year human biology major and Blxst fan, said. “I felt like seeing Blxst for the first time was crazy, especially because I ended up being one of the fans he high-fived at the end of his performance. I just couldn’t believe I was seeing him in real life.”
In putting on a show as large as Sunset Fest, members of EC had to work hard to prepare for the event and ensure the success of the show. All departments of EC were involved in putting together the concert, and Wong also made sure to shout out the event’s volunteers.
“Our volunteer team is responsible for recruiting hundreds of volunteers, because we can’t do this show without all the volunteer work involved,” Wong said.
Looking back, EC Unit Director Eddie Kim, a fourth-year human biology major, says that he is happy with the production value of the concert and is already planning improvements for future events.
“Throughout the event, we didn’t experience any technical difficulties [and had] smooth transitions and engagement with attendees throughout the stadium,” Kim said. “One aspect we could majorly improve on was the check-in process, and our team is looking forward to working diligently with security for future events.”
For some attendees who attempted to enter the concert at peak waiting time, the line could last over an hour, with lengthened security screenings at the singular entry point.
At the end of the day, Wong hopes that Sunset Fest provided students with a safe, freeing environment to transition into the new school year.
“Bringing students together through music is different from other forms of campus engagement,” Wong said. “We aren’t expecting anything from them other than just having good concert etiquette. But for them, this is a time when they can choose how to enjoy it, and often it’s a form of catharsis. It’s a break from school, from work — it’s just for fun. We hope that with our shows, students have a space to just relax, to dance, to meet other students, [all] with no expectations of them.”
Written by: Graciela Tiu — features@theaggie.org
