Blog's Coverband Experience

Scenes from one of the biggest shows of the semester.

By Sloane DiBari, Rhys Hals, Ebun Lawore, and Zoe Stern

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Coverband Spring 2025 was a night to remember — or, depending on your habits, a night to remember in flashes when you wake up the next morning with the vague sense that you had a great night with palpable physical consequences. There was an eclectic mix of music, with something for every major Obie demographic: TIMARA kids, sad New Yorkers, happy New Yorkers, indie folk lesbians, gay men who are active on stan Twitter. The lineup was as follows:

1. Pro-Vax.I.A. – M.I.A.

2. Wax My Ass Cheeks (listed as Had a Wack Sea on the official poster) – Waxahatchee

3. r/adiohead (listed as r/adioohead on the official poster) – Radiohead

4. Cockslap – Jockstrap

5. Horde – Lorde

6. Sangria Bartender – Sabrina Carpenter

7. Katy Perry the Platypus – Katy Perry

Unfortunately, My Happy Christmas — the My Bloody Valentine cover band — wasn’t able to play. With an event as packed and chaotic as Coverband, we also unfortunately weren’t able to cover everything. But here’s what we did get to see and hear.

ZOE STERN: I braved the harrowing line stretching past the Rät, the ear-splitting chatter preceding the show, and being packed into the ‘Sco like a sardine with little hope of escape for the sake of experiencing Coverband for the first time. I stayed for M.I.A, fighting sensory overload to try to focus on the music. Earplugs were my only saving grace. I tried to persevere through Waxahatchee, but ultimately decided that no music could be worth the suffocating encroachment of the bodies around me. I dipped.

SLOANE DIBARI: I left about halfway through because the crowd and the heat and the bodies were simply too much for me in my lucid state, but I had a great time nonetheless. Opening with Pro-Vax.I.A. was the right move — “Paper Planes” was perfect for immediately diving right into the energy of Coverband. Wax My Ass Cheeks’s beautiful rendition of “Right Back to It” made me emotional as I looked around at all the lesbian couples attempting to slow dance in a room packed to the gills. My brave girlfriend was at home playing Minecraft, attending to the noble duty of killing zombies and mining iron. The highlight, though, was r/adiohead (take a wild guess). I was so excited to hear ‘Idioteque’ live in any capacity that I didn’t care how much of my soul I was revealing to every Oberlin student and their mother by screaming out all the lyrics. I’ve basically had Radiohead’s entire discography memorized since I was, like, sixteen. In the grand finale of r/adiohead’s set, everyone was singing their hearts out to “Creep.” I saw sides of my friends and fellow Blog members I never expected to see. It brought out something primal and ugly and incredible in all of us. People were passing around a bottle of Rush. It was fucking beautiful. Coverband forever. I really wish I’d gotten to see more of Cockslap’s set, though.

RHYS HALS: I’ve always been a fan of Radiohead. Raised on In Rainbows from a young age, I hit my peak fandom in sophomore year of high school, returning to school at the tailend of COVID, feeling emo as hell. Learning r/adiohead was in the coverband line up made me infinitely more excited for what is already one of my favorite events of the semester. The opening notes to “Karma Police” and I knew the next ten minutes were going to be some of the best of my life. If I could pick any three bands to see live, Radiohead would be at the top. I love OK Computer but I am just so partial to In Rainbows; “All I Need” changed me. Tears rolling down my face, hands in the air, swaying. I could feel the pulse of emotion running through the crowd, people arm in arm. The room was full of love, full of hope, full of musical magic. This was it. This is the best moment of my life. And then it got better.

The simple drum intro began, the melancholy guitar. True to Thom Yorke, the r/adiohead frontman sang in a low tone about the beauty of a lover. I screamed, my heart warm, my stomach full of PBR. Here it comes. The chorus. I've never been more ready for anything. Belting at the top of my lungs, what I’ve always seen as a laughably corny song suddenly meant everything to me. I am a creep, I might even be a weirdo. The singers were singing directly to me, acknowledging every insecurity I’ve ever felt, every ounce of imperfection, imposter syndrome, loserness. Entranced by the disco ball reflecting red light around the room, I thought about wanting a perfect body, everyone in the room screaming the line with such passion and intensity, I knew they all want it so deeply too. I have never felt so seen, so far from alone, in a room of pain and hurt and basking in every second of it.

I really liked Horde too.

EBUN LAWORE: This was my first time attending the coverband showcase and nobody told me that it would be such an educational experience. After it was over I felt enriched, enlightened, and extremely gone. Here is everything I had discovered by the end of the night:

1. Sometimes country music is good.

2. Due to the capitalist regime I have accidentally memorized the lyrics to a lot of Sabrina Carpenter songs.

3. Poppers smell like chlorine.

4. Everybody knows the words to Creep and no one is embarrassed.

5. I don’t know who Jockstrap is but now I am very passionate about them because too many people were talking over that set.

6. Apparently its WOBC FM 91.5 Oberlin College and Community Radio and not WOBC 91.5 FM Oberlin College and Community Radio (I’ve been saying it wrong this whole time)

7. Those songs are BOTH by M.I.A????

8. All I Need is the r/adiohead lead singer.

9. I was kind of excited for My Bloody Valentine (Justice for My Happy Christmas)

10. No one is as excited about feeling so connected to love as I am.

11. I think we should normalize shushing the crowd.

12. It’s all wrong it’s all wrong it’s all wrong it’s all right it’s all wrong it’s all wrong it’s all wrong it’s all right it’s all wrong it’s all wrong