From the Mansion to the Tap House

Illustration by Christina Wang.

During the 2025–2026 academic year, MUSE brought together a wide range of student centred bands and solo artists, creating spaces where music became more than just performance. It was a way of coming together. In a time marked by global uncertainty, these shows offered something grounding: a reminder of what it means to share space, to listen, and to feel collectively. For friends of the performers, it was an incredibly special experience: to watch people you know be embraced not only by familiar faces, but by a wider community drawn in by the sound emerging from Queen’s University and the broader Kingston social scene. After all, even the local pier itself bears the name of one of Kingston’s most iconic musical exports, a quiet testament to the city’s long-standing relationship with music as both expression and connection. Across a range of venues and sessions throughout the year, some of Queen’s most talented artists came together to share their work; through covers, experimentation, and moments of pure musical instinct as each performance contributing to something larger than itself. 

At the beginning of the year, an intimate set at the newly closed Mansion (RIP) brought a room together in a way that only small venues can: packed tightly with friends, classmates, the MUSE community, and curious listeners. The space felt less like a formal performance and more like a shared moment; one where the line between artist and audience blurred. In a world where so much of our interaction feels distant or mediated, there can be something quietly radical about that closeness. The night celebrated both emerging solo artists and well-loved bands such as Last Call, TwoTime, and Revzed. All mainstays of the Queen’s music community who have continued to build their presence, most recently taking the stage at Ale House. Each act brought a distinct sound while feeding off the same collective energy in the room. There was an immediacy to it: the quiet between songs, the cheers that felt personal rather than performative, and the sense that everyone present was witnessing something fleeting. In many ways, it set the tone for MUSE’s year: not just as a series of events, but as a space of gathering, where music became a small form of resistance against constant disconnection. 

Among the standout moments of the fall was Lee Sajda’s solo performance, which offered a quieter, more intimate counterpoint to the high-energy band sets. Stripped back and emotionally resonant, his set drew the room inward, capturing a kind of stillness that only a solo artist can hold. In contrast to the constant movement and noise of everyday life, there was something grounding in that stillness: a pause that allowed people to sit with the music, and with each other. There was an immediate ease to the performance which was calm, yet deeply engaging that made the experience feel personal instead of performative. As both a solo artist and a member of Duck Pond, Sajda’s presence across different performances throughout the year reflected the interconnected nature of the scene itself, where collaboration and shared spaces shape the music as much as individual talent. That same atmosphere carried into the winter semester, when Sajda returned for MUSE’s Coffee House at the Tea Room. In a familiar, low-lit space, his performance felt less like a one-off set and more like a continuation of a true artist growing alongside a community that has already begun to recognize and support his sound. 

In February, MUSE moved further down Princess Street to The Merchant Tap House, expanding both its reach and its sound. The night brought together some of the most compelling acts in the current student music scene including; Duck Pond, Dutch Baby, and Sleep on the Couch. Bands like Duck Pond, recently profiled in MUSE as “the hottest up-and-coming student band,” in Kingston captured the spirit of the scene through their dynamic, genre-blending performances and on-stage chemistry. As explored in this MUSE feature, written by contributor Abigail Rossman on Duck Pond, their rise reflects not only individual talent, but also the collaborative and deeply interconnected nature of Queens’ music culture.

More than anything, nights like these reveal what local music scenes do best: they bring people together. As explored in another MUSE piece on music as resistance and bringing people together (one I had the honour to edit) these spaces create forms of belonging not by escaping the world, but by responding to it. As graduating classes move on from Kingston, what remains are not just the venues or the setlists, but the feeling of those spaces with the shared moments, laughter between songs, and collective energy of being a part of something much larger than oneself. In a time that often felt uncertain and fractured, these performances offered something steady. Much like the pier named after one of Kingston’s most iconic musical figures, these moments become part of a larger continuity; tying people to place, to memory, and to each other. Long after the year ends, it is the music—and the sense of togetherness it created—that will stay with them.