Lights, vendors and students created a lively atmosphere at Hoftra University’s David S. Mack Sports and Exhibition Complex on Saturday, April 18, for Music Fest 2026. Hofstra Concerts organized the live performances so that they included emerging bands Shy Flyer and married, knot, along with bigger artists Daniel Jenkins and Kyle Thomas Harvey, most popularly known as KYLE, who headlined the show.
Hofstra Concerts President and senior music business major Meghan McIsaac and senior Vice President MeiLi Haan, who has a double major in music business and sustainability studies, discussed the preparation for Music Fest and the difficulty around balancing the budget compared to previous years.
“[The Student Government Association] does the best that they can, given what they’re able to provide to us,” said McIsaac. “They’re trying to [give] as much money to all the clubs, so we’re really grateful for every penny that we get. It’s been especially hard this past year. Again, we’re trying to budget our own money that we have.”
Vendors at the live event included Redbull, Dunkin’ and the Hofstra Audiology Department. HX Hair Salon, which gave out free hair tinsel, and Headcount – an organization dedicated to registering voters – had vending spaces as well.
“Headcount does a lot of stuff with individual concerts, like arena shows and stuff,” Haan said. “So the fact that they’re coming to campus is a big deal. We [had] some other departments involved as well. Audiology [was] there, handing out headphones [and] earbuds to people.”
Planning for the event began last summer. Hofstra Concerts e-board members started with a large list of potential performers and trimmed it over the course of the year.
“We start making a list of a bunch of artists – I want to say, maybe 300 plus artists on the list,” McIsaac said. “We just start getting some ideas, and then, throughout the year, the summer, throughout the fall, we start kind of dwindling that down.”
The hosts, senior television business major Richie Castronova and senior writing for the screen major Brooke Baker, began their own preparations early by organizing routines and coming up with jokes for the big night.
“Baker and I performed a bunch on [Thursday Nite Live] together,” Castronova said. “[She] and I consistently do banter back and forth and have been doing sketch comedy for the past three years, so being able to integrate that into those breaks and being able to just play with the crowd – I think is going to be the way that we’re going to hype them up.”
For both hosts, the event had a greater meaning, since it is one of their last Hofstra performances before they graduate in May.
“There’s been things that I haven’t even expected to do that I’ve gotten the honor and privilege to do,” Baker said. “This is just a great culmination of giving back to a community that shaped me and I love so much.”
The band Shy Flyer opened the event with Alternative Rock songs like “Uncle Steve,” and songs from their album “The Sky is Defiance.”
Married, knot won the opportunity to play at Music Fest by majority student vote at Hofstra Concerts 2026 Battle for Music Fest earlier in the semester on March 7. The band describes their music genre as “shoegaze.”
“The term ‘shoegaze’ is derived from bands in the late [1980s], early [1990s], that were probably staring at their pedal boards instead of, like, the audience,” said married, knot drummer and senior accounting and music business double major Vincent Castelli. “So, there’s a big focus on effects and making sure you tap things at the right time.”
Before headliner KYLE took the stage, Nashville-based artist Jenkins hyped up the crowd through narrative-based songs.
Jenkins explained his perspective on songwriting and his background with it.
“It really, actually, goes back to fourth grade for me, like, in writing class, when I was taught to explode the moment,” Jenkins said. “I feel, like, I think the best songs are the ones that are about the most specific thing that just exploded into, like, a three minute song.”
KYLE, a Recording Industry Association of America certified Diamond artist, ended the night with spirited energy, singing hit songs like ‘iSpy’ so that attendees could sing along as well.
“You never know what the crowd is going to be,” KYLE said. “You never know how many of them even know you or even know your song, so I try to put something in college sets where it’s, like, ‘this is gonna be entertaining, no matter what.’ Because I essentially have one job: that’s to make sure that [students] have fun. That’s literally the whole thing.”
