“It’s f–ing rad, playing a food court,” lead singer of Pet Me Vikki Vera said, Subway sandwich from the food court in hand.

The event kicked off with a routine from Impulse Dance, set in part to Charli XCX’s “Vroom Vroom.” The Lansing-based Pet Me crew took the stage shortly after.

Aside from the show being the band’s first inside a food court, it was also their first show at MSU. Vera said all of Pet Me’s members are transgender, and described the group’s music as a mix of punk rock, powerpop and riot grrrl rolled into a genre the band calls “queercore.”

The band started playing together in 2018 and performed their first show in 2019, but COVID-19 delayed their plans for more until recently. Now, the band is looking forward to the release of their new EP, “Abomination.” The record is slated to come out in around a month, Vera said.

The night also featured performances from Grand Rapids-based bands, The Skinny Limbs and Pretoria.

The Skinny Limbs have been releasing music for around five years, vocalist Max Knoth said. The band began with Knoth and his brothers and expanded to feature a couple of their friends. Skinny Limbs’ laid-back indie rock sound is inspired by the dunes and beaches of West Michigan that Knoth and fellow bandmates were raised on.

“I grew up going to the beach every other weekend,” Knoth said. “All of us dudes like to hike the dunes and go on little mini day trips up to Traverse City or Ludington.”

The Skinny Limbs last visited MSU for a gig at the Union Ballroom in May 2022.

“I feel like everyone made it really exciting, there’s always a good crowd here, people are stoked,” Knoth said.

When Pretoria took the stage, the crowd moved closer. The last time the band played a set at MSU, they had opened for alternative rock band Grouplove at MSU’s Spring Concert at the Breslin Center. Now, their brand of indie-rock shook the walls of the food court.

“We've been to MSU a bunch of times, so it's always fun to come back and see our audience here grow,” guitarist Josh Bulisko said. “Once the lights turned off, it turned into its own little venue, so that’s kind of cool."

Construction management senior and Pretoria fan Sam Bourgeois was looking forward to seeing the five-piece band.

“I'm a big fan of Pretoria in general and so I was really glad to see that they were coming out,” Bourgeois said.

Pretoria will be covering a handful of songs by English rock band The Cure for a Oct. 28 Halloween concert at Pontiac’s Crofoot Ballroom.

UAB also has a host of events planned for the rest of October, including a night of stargazing and painting at the Abrams Planetarium.