Review: KPU’s Wake Up! music festival is something special and more students should experience it
The night of music, storytelling, and community showed what campus culture can look like at its best
The annual music festival featured a lineup including high-school and KPU student performers. (Sydney Nelson)
If you walked into Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s Wake Up! Social Justice Music Festival at the Surrey campus on March 25, you would not have seen an empty room.
You would have seen friends, families, faculty, and students filling the space — smiling, talking, and actually engaging with what was happening on stage. The energy was there. The support was there.
And that is exactly why more students should be part of it.
Wake Up! is not just another campus event. It is the kind of experience people are always saying they wish KPU had more of: interactive, creative, and genuinely meaningful.
From the start, the night set a strong tone. Vancouver-based artist Ruby Singh opened the festival with a performance that was not only entertaining but fully engaging. He performed interactive live-looping music and beatboxed before using technology to turn electric signals from living organisms into sound and music. It was the kind of set that made it easy to relax, laugh, and feel part of the moment, instead of watching from the sidelines.
The festival’s high-school performers followed. The band KRGC from Langley Christian School and Asheton Tablac from Surrey’s Fleetwood Park Secondary brought confidence and passion that felt impossible to ignore. There is something refreshing about seeing that level of commitment on stage — performers who clearly love what they are doing and are not afraid to show it.
Then came the KPU student performers, each bringing something different and meaningful to the Wake Up! stage. What stood out most was how personal everything felt. There were not just performances for the sake of filling a lineup — each one told a story. Whether it was about identity, personal challenges, or growth, you could see how much thought and care went into every detail.
Lyrics appeared on the screen, and the room followed along. Some people sang under their breath, others just listened. It created one of those rare moments where a crowd feels connected without needing to say anything.
Moments like that are hard to create and even harder to forget. But Wake Up! was not just about what happened on stage. It was also about everything happening around it.
There was a noticeable sense of openness in the room. People were welcoming, supportive, and present. It was a space where a diverse group of people could come together and enjoy a range of talent.
I brought my parents with me and they kept coming back to the same reaction: everything felt positive. They were genuinely impressed, not just by the performances, but by the atmosphere.
“It was amazing,” they said. “Just wonderful to see.”
That sense of community extended beyond the performances. Between sets, people connected by running into old classmates, meeting new people, and even stepping forward to dance during Tanner Reisdorf Cooper’s performance of “Footloose” by Blake Shelton (originally Kenny Loggins). It just felt natural.
This year also brought more ways to engage, with increased sponsorship, merchandise, and opportunities for donations. It added another layer to the experience without taking away from the heart of the event.
Wake Up! is already doing something right. It is creating a space where music, identity, and community intersect in a way that feels real.
If you missed it this year, there is no need to feel like you missed your only chance. Wake Up! is an annual event that will only continue to grow year after year.
