On October 29, music group COIN gave this year’s SAC fall concert. The concert, which was held in the CFL Main Hall, was COIN’s last performance before they begin their next  tour in Europe. The event was widely attended by both students who were avid fans of COIN and those that went to the concert not knowing any of the music.

COIN is a pop-rock genre band from Nashville, Tennessee. The band consists of Chase Lawrence, Ryan Winnen, and Joe Memmel. After releasing a self-titled album in 2012, the band has made four more albums. They are known for their catchy pop songs and enthusiastic performances, most notably “Talk Too Much” which is the lead single of their 2016 album “How Will You Know If You Never Try”. COIN played their single “Chapstick”, which was released in 2021. The single was the band’s first No. 1 on a Billboard chart, as it reached the top of Adult Alternative Airplay chart in February 2021. The show also featured classic COIN anthems the audience sang along to, as well as more grounded songs that caused phone flashlights to appear all over the audience. 

Many students, like SAC member Izzy Clark (‘23),  attend the annual SAC fall concert. In helping to plan the event, Clark believed it was important to have a concert that would attract the most students and to a wide variety of musical tastes. 

“Events like these bring a sense of community and college,” Clark said. “We don’t want to appeal to one audience, we want to try and be versatile and pick an artist that has the qualities of what a lot of students want to hear.”

Lydia Swarney (‘26) liked how COIN was interactive with the audience. She brought a container of blueberries to the concert and handed them to Lawrence, the lead vocalist of the band. She was delighted when he began to eat them on stage, which made the audience laugh as well.

“[The concert] was a lot of fun, a lot of people were excited and happy,” Swarney said. “The vibes were really good.”

Each year, the concerts are consistently one of the most highly-attended SAC events, as a result of both Luther students and the larger Decorah community attending. Andre Hagen Espino (’26) was one of these students and he said he liked the fun vibe of the concert. As a first-year student, this was Espino’s first SAC concert experience.

 “I had a really great experience and the music was awesome,” Hagen said.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Luther community has missed lots of major event opportunities in the past few years, like the SAC concerts. Clark acknowledged that bringing fun events and music groups like COIN is always a way for students to have a safe space to socialize and have fun with their friends. Clark also highlighted the ability to connect Luther to its surroundings through the concert.

 “It is a way for the [Luther] community to bridge with the community of Decorah as a whole,” Clark said.

COIN will begin their next tour on November 9 in Paris, France. Their most recent album, “The Uncanny Valley”, is available to stream on all platforms.