The De Soto High School Prom was held on May 3 this year and the twenties-based theme “Party like Gatsby” was a roaring success. For the second year in a row, a student band performed live music for a portion of the night.

Last year, the performance was popular but had its flaws. Lead singer, junior Zach Burch, thought that this year turned out much more successful.

“There was tons of improvement from last year. We had a way better stage and way better sound set up. You could actually hear the vocals. You could actually hear all the bass,” Burch said.

“I think that the band was really good but that you couldn’t really understand what they were saying because the music was really loud,” junior Carena Bledsoe said.

Burch felt that the groups song selection was more popular as well.”

“We picked way better songs. It was way more relatable,” Burch said. “I heard people actually saying, ‘oh, that’s my favorite song! They’re playing Iris! I can’t wait to slow dance to it!’.”

Vocalist Meredith Wolfe felt that the music choice was better, but she thought that the audience did not interact as well as she had hoped.

“I thought our performance went really well, but it was a little difficult getting into it because a lot of the student body just stood there instead of interacting with us,” Wolfe said.

Burch felt that the group was finally able to connect with the audience when they performed slower songs.

“Between that and looking out and seeing everybody slow dancing,” Burch said. “It was cool because you don’t talk to these people very often and you’re watching them enjoy your performance.”

Wolfe is considering not performing next year due to the lack of interaction with the audience.

“We’re actually thinking about not doing it next year because we just put so many hours into practicing it and it feels as if it’s for nothing,” Wolfe said.

Students like the idea of continuing the tradition, despite past flaws.

“I thought that the band was awesome but that there are improvements that could be made to make it even better next year. I do like the idea of a live band though,” junior Kelista McGraw said.