It is finally here: my last Sun God. After five years at this school, I’m going to graduate — or else just give up and move on. In any case, I won’t be back for more. I can’t say that I’ve been all too thrilled with past musical experiences, but the day and its accompanying drunken insanity is another matter altogether. Just like school, where if you’ve done things right, you don’t remember the classes, but rather the good times; Sun God is much less about the forgetable band that no one you know really listens too than the opportunity to get together with the majority of UCSD.
What is otherwise an uptight student body, disposed to go home every weekend, suddenly remembers that college offers you some of the rarest opportunities in life. We are finally old enough to know how to misbehave, and we are still young enough for our bodies to let us get away with it.
Its not like I’m advocating the use of liquor and drugs … well, maybe I am. It does certainly help, but what this is really about is our collective need to have a good time. Don’t drink? Who cares? Just for one sweet moment, stop thinking about your farsighted goals of med school or law school, and go see a fuckin’ show.
Sure I can hardly remember the music portion of most years, but this one will be different. I actually own most of the albums by one of the headliners! Imagine that. Bad Religion, besides offering the mild offense factor to the overly prude Christian population (so most people here?), is a damn good band, at least in my not-very-punk opinion. I realized that I might have to be sober enough to see the show this time around, but that does leave me many hours beforehand, and after, to abuse my liver.
My first few Sun God experiences are not much to talk about, I didn’t even attend my second year. Junior year is mostly a blur, I can only vaguely remember being bored and waiting to get an interview with Face to Face, which I never got. Afterwards, I ran into several then-editors rolling in the Guardian office. This brief encounter radically changed my perspective of both UCSD and Sun God. Suddenly, I realized that there were kids running around having a good time, and furthermore, using a concert they didn’t even go to as an excuse to cut loose.
Last year’s Sun God, what should have been my final Sun God, held expectations that were a little higher. There was an honest attempt to see Cake, but again, I was there for about half a set before boredom set in, and someone mentioned, “”We could be drinking now.”” So we filed out past the rave tent with kids pretending to candy rave, past the droves of people showing up at the end and headed back out to find a refuge, a safe harbor for consumption and inebriation. And possibly napping.
My friends have already planned out a strict regimen that begins at the dark and early hour of 6 a.m., and will likely last uninterrupted until I decide to wander off and sleep for an hour or two. Maybe we’ll wander through the booths and look for the legendary Jell-O shots, or the girls who were making out last year. Maybe we won’t “”lose”” my friend after he berates us for keeping the yellow man down. Maybe we’ll actually show up for the opening bands.
But I digress, if by now you’re questioning the point to this rambling stumble down foggy memory lane, it is this: You may not know it now, but this time here is precious. Do you really want to look back on your college life and only be able to remember studying and doing homework?
