The UW meets EC downtown Eau Claire event struck again last Friday, Sept. 11, where students and community members attended various events around the downtown area.

To conclude a night of festivities, the bands Granite Rose and The Millenium performed at Owen Park, which Megan Hagelin, a senior marketing student, feels is a great way to assimilate into both the university and the community.

“These events are a great to way to immerse yourself not only into the UW- Eau Claire community, but also Eau Claire itself,” Hagelin said.

Both bands’ members include all Eau Claire natives, while music style proves diverse with Granite Rose performing rock and roll, and The Millenium self-described as ‘titanic pop.’

“We credit a lot of our inspiration to this town and the people that make it,” said Nick Anderson, Granite Rose lead vocalist and business graduate of UW- Eau Claire.

Granite Rose performed a medley of eight songs, including covers and original songs. Members are Nick Anderson, Galen Keily and Trevor Peck.

“It’s always such an exciting moment to come home from tour to your home fans,” Anderson said. “They are the ones who have seen you from day one until now.”

After greeting the crowd before their last song titled “Friends All Around,” Anderson expressed the inspiration for the Granite Rose song about Eau Claire’s atmosphere.

“Everybody’s gonna be your friend, let’s all dance around to that,” Anderson said.

With two released albums available on Spotify and Apple Music, and experience touring the Midwest, Granite Rose members said it was refreshing to perform in Eau Claire again.

“I love coming back to the stomping grounds because everyone just loves to share in the band’s success,” Anderson said. “We love our Eau Claire fans, we love Eau Claire.”

And the fans love them as well. After seeing the Granite Rose perform at various events, Hagelin was excited to watch them.

“I love Granite Rose’s stage presence and sound; each guy is such a talented musician,” Hagelin said. “They looked like they were having a blast and truly put on a performance.”

The Millenium performed ten songs, including covers and original music, after Granite Rose. Forming in 2014, band member Kyle Culver describes the band as acoustically centric, high energy indie rock, coupled with electronic elements.

“Stylistically, we’re always growing,” Culver said.

The Millenium said it was a great experience to perform in Eau Claire again, closing the night with a cover of MKTO’s “Classic.”

“As we spent our formative years here in Eau Claire, it’s humbling to be integrated in such a vibrant cultural hotspot in music and otherwise,” Culver said. “It’s always a high energy, interactive crowd.”