Students wearing glow stick necklaces and crowns holding flashing foam wands gathered to see “The Summer Set” and “Throwback Time Machine’ for Elon University’s Homecoming concert in the Colonnades parking lot Saturday night.

The concert, sponsored by the Student Union Board (SUB) and SGA, was successful despite a time crunch  — original headliner Andy Grammer canceled to focus on his appearance on the 21st season of ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars.”

Luckily, SUB and SGA booked ‘Throwback Time Machine,’ a throwback video dance party for the show complete with a retro DJ. 

“I think SUB did the best they could replacing Andy Grammer in what little time they had, and overall it was a really cool atmosphere even if there weren’t a lot of people there,” said sophomore Melissa Douglas.

According to senior Caroline Blanchard, performance chair, members of the SUB executive board first saw “Throwback Time Machine” DJing and performing during one of the sessions at the National Association of Campus Activities South Regional Conference.

“They were incredibly high energy, really fun, really different and we thought they would be a great addition to ‘The Summer Set’ for the Homecoming concert,” Blanchard said.

Doors opened at 7 p.m., and a few minutes after 8 p.m., “The Summer Set” opened the concert, performing some of their popular songs such as “Boomerang,” “Lightning in a Bottle” and “Legendary” from their latest album “Legendary.”

They even played a song from their fourth album, which will be released later this year.

Though “The Summer Set” wasn’t as well-known on campus compared to previous Homecoming concert headliners such as Ludacris and Timeflies, students still enjoyed their performance.

“I was super pumped for The Summer Set,” said junior Brooke Greenberg. “I actually found their album a few years ago and downloaded every song, which is very rare for me. I was definitely pleasantly surprised to find out they were coming because I didn’t think anyone else really knew about them.”

One group of fans chanted “Chelsea” repeatedly, asking for a song request.

Throughout the performance, lead singer Brian Logan Dales interacted with audience members, asking them if they had heard of the band before, telling them to put their arms around a stranger and catching the glow sticks thrown on stage.

“Since there weren’t that many people there, my friends and I were able to get to the front and touch [Dales’] hand,” Greenberg said. “It was super cool.”

But more students poured in around 8:45 p.m., when “DJ Throwback Time Machine” took the stage and more glowing objects were thrown into the crowd. Unlike usual concerts, the DJ did not play any original songs, but rather played “throwbacks” going as far back to the 1970s.

During the performance, the DJ and students pushed “the big red button,” which activated the “Throwback Time Machine” and launched the crowd into a different decade complete with lyrics and music videos.

Almost everyone in the crowd knew the words to the popular throwbacks.

The audience danced and sang along to classics like “Don’t Stop Believing” by Journey, “Sweet Child of Mine” by Guns N’ Roses and “Sweet Home Alabama” by Lynryds Skynyrd. 

Students also showed off their moves by doing the “Cha Cha Slide” by DJ Casper, “Teach Me How to Dougie” by Cali Swag District and “Watch Me” by Silento.

There were also some more current songs considered “throwbacks from yesterday,” like “Uptown Funk” by Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars, “Shake It Off” by Taylor Swift and “679” by Fetty Wap.

The night ended with the DJ “calculating” what songs matched the crowd best from earlier reactions, then playing the dubstep songs “Animals” by Martin Garrix and “Sandstorm” by Darude.

“The DJ was amazing,” said junior Will Oglesby. “Horrible name, but he was actually really fun. His throwback songs were actually really awesome. Plus, he was really awkward looking with a fedora, so that just added to the experience.”