The annual Muirstock festival was held on April 25 where students filled Muir quad to listen to live music and partake in carnival games and activities. Eight bands were lined up, with headliners B-Side Players finishing off the day.
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With a rock-climbing wall, sumo wrestling and a blown-up Velcro “”fly wall”” offered starting at 1 p.m., the lawn south of Sierra Summit was as full of students, as was the quad below where all the other activities were based. The groups of students waiting to put on large sumo suits and wrestle each other didn’t subside until the event closed at 7:30 p.m.
Also starting at 1 p.m. were activities such as massages, henna tattoos, T-shirt dying, feet washing and ping-pong ball tossing for goldfish, all in the Muir quad. While students waited for these activities, many sat braiding hemp into necklaces and bracelets. At 4 p.m., students were treated to a free barbecue as the opening band began to set up.
Muirstock coordinator Seth Klonsky said that he would like to see these activities expanded next year as they seem to be the ones that keep students at Muirstock for the longest period of time.
“”I think the festival during the day should last longer,”” he said. “”It seems to be what people most enjoy about the night.””
Muirstock is funded by allocations made by all of the college councils and the A.S. Council, allowing it to provide all its activities to the students at no charge. According to Klonsky, this year’s event cost somewhere between $16,500 and $17,500.
“”It was an expensive show this year, although I think a lot of that had to do with the fact that we offered so much more this year. We spent a good deal of money on the rock-climbing wall, for instance, and the number of bands we had was far expanded this year; from five and six, as we’ve had in the past, to eight this year,”” Klonsky said.
Even with the change in the band lineup made the day before, the show ran very smoothly, with almost no incidents. The change was made due to the illness of Pinback’s bassist, causing the group to cancel. However, because some of the members of Pinback have a secondary project, Optiganally Yours, a new contract was signed and they played in Pinback’s place.
“”The show went very, very smoothly from a production standpoint. It was a dream,”” Klonsky said.
A spoken-word act sponsored by Promotion of Artists and Vocal Expression kicked off the festival’s live entertainment, which continued past 10 p.m. The Big Sound, a reggae band, opened the concert at 4:20 p.m. They were followed by Unbound, Skapegoat, FoN, PSOMA, Reeve Oliver, Optiganally Yours, with the headlining B-Side Players closing the night.
Even though some students left as it grew darker and got colder, many remained until the end, keeping the Muir quad full.
“”In terms of turnout, I think we did very well, especially considering we’ve been competing with two semi-formals tonight,”” Klonsky said. “”I think the night was definitely a success.””
