ERIE, Pa. — The 2025 Penn State Behrend fall concert will feature the Dare, the debauched dance-punk project fronted by Harrison Patrick Smith, who has toured and recorded with Charli XCX.
Beauty School Dropout and DJ Nugget also will perform.
The fall concert is an exclusive event for Behrend students. Admission is free. Entry to the concert, which will be held Sept. 5 at the Behrend soccer complex, begins at 6:30 p.m.
Smith’s first band, the indie group Turtlenecked, formed in 2014, when he was a student at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon. He soon moved to New York City, where he taught guitar and worked as a substitute teacher at a West Village private school. He moonlighted as a DJ, hosting afterparties for Gucci and Celine.
“Girls,” his first single as the Dare, was a COVID lockdown project — a response to the Rolling Stones album “Some Girls.” The follow-up single, “Good Time,” helped Smith secure a contract with Republic Records. Both songs appeared on “The Sex EP,” which was released in 2023.
A year later, the Dare opened three shows for Charli XCX. Working with Finneas, the Grammy Award-winning songwriter and producer — and brother of Billie Eilish — Smith produced a remix of “Guess,” with Charli XCX and Eilish. The song appeared on the deluxe edition of “Brat.”
The Los Angeles-based band Beauty School Dropout also will perform at the fall concert, which is coordinated by a student-led committee. On the day of the concert, the band will release a new LP, “Where Did All the Butterflies Go?”
Pittsburgh mainstay DJ Nugget will open the show. He performed at the 2022 fall concert, which featured Yung Gravy, and has worked with Diplo, Lil Jon, Questlove and Mixmaster Mike.
“This lineup is a totally different genre from what we’ve done recently, and I think students who were around for those concerts will appreciate the change,” said Michaela Florence, a member of the Concert Committee. “It’s super important that we try to cater to different tastes. The Dare and Beauty School Dropout are a good combo to please a wide audience, and DJ Nugget is always a classic.”