Stillwater High choir students push through power outage for final concert

STILLWATER, Minn. (KMSP) - Choir students at Stillwater High School proved they know the meaning of “the show must go on” after pushing through a power outage to perform their annual POPS concert.

As storms rolled through Thursday evening, the power went out just three minutes before showtime. With a sold-out crowd of 500 people waiting and only generators keeping the emergency lights on, about 200 students did what any good live performer would do -- they improvised. 

Noah Pasiuk, a high school junior and choir member at Stillwater High School did his emcee responsibilities without a microphone.

“Ms. Mitchell knows, I have a pretty loud voice so I don’t mind projecting that,” said Pasiuk.

Choir member Matt Lamers ditched his microphone and technical duties and used a battery-operated LED flashlight as a spotlight. 

“We had none of our fancy lights,” said Lamers. “We had none of our sound system. None of the amps for the guitars worked. We couldn't use our wireless microphones. We were just in the dark with everything.”

Of the 15 planned songs, about eight could be performed acoustically. 

“It’s hard when you are used to performing a song with microphones and with guitar plugged in,” said Mya Lysne, choir member. “It’s hard to all of a sudden project and play as loud as you can. It kinda threw a roadblock in, but it was still fun.”

“This show in particular mostly requires lights and sounds and backing tracks and live band, and amps and all that,” said Angela Mitchell, choir director. 

Mitchell said this is definitely a first in her 21 years of teaching and a lesson her students will never forget. 

"Big take away is: we can do stuff without power,” said Lamers. “You don’t need all the fancy lights and all the sound equipment and everything you need. You can do a show without your power and your microphones and it can still be a great experience.”