Just hours earlier, Schaeffer and McBride Hall stood as they always do; unremarkable gray stone monoliths, blending seamlessly into the campus backdrop. As the sun dipped below the horizon, however, they were transformed completely.

Lights from the SCOPE homecoming concert stage, erected between the two buildings, illuminated the sides of each structure. The technicolor silhouettes of The 502s and Magdalena Bay swirled across the buildings larger than life.

The 502s, a six-piece American indie folk band from Florida kicked off this year’s annual homecoming concert on Oct. 25.

Behind the scenes, SCOPE Productions worked tirelessly to bring this vibrant show to life. Fresh off a high-profile performance featuring rapper Swae Lee the previous year, they were determined to shift gears and explore a different musical landscape.

“As an organization, we try to bring something different every year,” Elliot Baughman, SCOPE’s marketing director, said. “We’re not going to just do hip-hop; we’re not just going to do country. We want to serve everybody.”

This pivot was clear from the second The 502s exploded onto stage. Alight with relentless energy and infectious positivity, any doubts surrounding the legitimacy of their reputation as “the happiest band in the world” were quickly dispelled.

“Gather up all of this good energy that you feel,” guitarist Graci Phillips urged as she stepped up to the mic to excite the crowd. “Pull it, pull it, pull it… Squeeze it into a little ball. We’re going to let this energy go into the air. This is what is going to bring home your homecoming win tomorrow.”

Saxophonist Joe Capati swung between instruments with dizzying speed and dexterity. Even pulling out a melodica, he let the playful notes soar over the audience as they launched into their hit “Magdalene” from the 2021 album “Could It Get Better Than This?”

Concert attendee Maggy Jellison said the band’s atmosphere after the show was overwhelmingly positive.

“They all seemed like best friends. It felt like a family more than a band. It was so fun to see them having fun.”

Capati reflected this same warmth after he stepped off stage last night. “Every time we go to a university we’ve never been to before, you can always hear immediately the passion the crowd has for the school,” he said, still buzzing from the performance as he bounced against the metal barrier next to the stage. “It’s so fun.”

As the night unfolded, the vibrant joy of The 502s faded into a hypnotic realm of smoke and shifting lights as the audience waited for Magdalena Bay to step into the spotlight.

Magdalena Bay took stage next, an American synth-pop duo consisting of Mica Tenenbaum and Matthew Lewin, whose discography dances between optimism and despair, often embracing both simultaneously to create a thought-provoking sci-fi soundscape of layered synth-pop.

Magdalena Bay’s most recent release, “Imaginal Disk,” is a concept album, weaving a whimsically dark narrative, toying with themes of identity, self-discovery, and what it means to be human.

The crowd roared as Tenenbaum and Matt stepped on stage, accompanied by a drummer and a keyboardist.

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In their haunting opener, Tenenbaum ‘s delicate voice — a possessed China-doll version of Britney Spears — cooed the lyrics to the track “Image,” exploring a character’s journey toward becoming the “perfect image” of herself.

Each note was dreamlike and enveloped the audience as they slid seamlessly from one song into the next. Their set was a hybrid of new and old music, yet Lewin and Tenenbaum acknowledged the challenges of replicating the visual and worldbuilding elements of their discography on stage.

“We couldn’t bring our normal set [due to the venue],” Lewin explained. “We usually have visuals and costumes to try to tell the story of the album.”

“It’s definitely strange performing without the visuals,” Tenenbaum added later. “But I feel like I just knew the steps of everything. I think the storytelling is a subconscious thing; it’s just feeling the music.”

This proved to be undeniably evident as Mag Bay carefully captured their characteristic eerie, sci-fi narrative, skillfully interlacing choreographed lighting and perfectly measured discordance throughout their set.

The most interactive moment came during their track “Cherri.”

“Repeat after me, and whatever happens, do not stop,” Tenenbaum instructed. “Three, four, down to the floor; lose control a little more.”

The chant ripped through the crowd, transforming them from mere spectators into a living extension of the performance. The dimensional instrumentals from the band and the audience’s voices intertwined, creating a crescendoing backdrop culminating in a bloodcurdling scream from Tenenbaum, as the stage plunged into darkness.

She stood, for one brief moment, hauntingly poised, girlish innocent accentuated by her bedazzled ballet flats, until lights soared on again, reborn.