WinterFest 2007 opened its doors to a smaller crowd and venue this year, using the Price Center Ballroom with little more than half the turnout of last year’s WinterFest.
Despite the lowest attendance turnout in four years and a nontraditional venue, hip-hop group Zion I rocked the crowd at WinterFest, even coming back out for an encore before headliner Cursive took the stage.
Headlining the event was indie group Cursive and Bay area hip-hop group Zion I, with smaller acts Darker my Love and UV Tigers opening the concert. The number of attendees hit its peak during Zion I’s performance, but the ballroom did not reach its capacity of 1,500.
According to A.S. Assistant Vice President of Programming Di Lam, 1,200 students were in attendance, with another 100 attendees from the general public. Last year’s WinterFest had 2,400 concertgoers.
The low-budget venue will allow A.S. Programming to afford beer gardens at this year’s 25th-anniversary Sun God.
“”Having [WinterFest] in RIMAC would be too expensive, in fact it would cost the entire current WinterFest budget just to hold the production alone (without artist fees),”” Lam stated in an e-mail. “”Given that WinterFest is less popular than FallFest and Sun God, the decision to cut it landed it into the ballroom to make way to fund events like the beer gardens.””
Many students did not mind the event’s downsizing.
“”I’m having a better time here than at FallFest; I think the smaller venue makes you more into it,”” Eleanor Roosevelt College freshman Carol Irene Southworth said. “”This is more chill than the thrashing going on at Hot Hot Heat.””
UV Tigers’ and Darker my Love’s sets drew no more than 200 eventgoers with tepid responses.
“”I was bored by the first two bands, but Zion I was better and got the crowd moving,”” Thurgood Marshall College sophomore Daniel Angrade said.
Zion I was the biggest draw of the night, supported by a strong showing of Bay area hip-hop fans, many of whom streamed in through the doors at for the 9 p.m. set, two hours after the doors had opened.
“”I am excited about Zion I because I need to rep Bay area hip-hop,”” Revelle College junior Andrew Frostholm said.
The crowd during Zion I was energetic, with a wild response when the group asked who was from the Bay area. After the crowd started chanting, Zion I came out for an encore that got the crowd riled up, with some students leaving the pit soaked in sweat.
After Zion I’s set, much of the crowd left the event, deflating the experience for other concertgoers.
“”[Cursive was] very good, very fun to watch but you could tell at the beginning they weren’t jazzed to be there,”” graduate student Matt Fradkin said. “”They are used to playing to bigger crowds, but when people got crazy at the end they were more excited to be there.””
Lam was pleased with the event despite the lowest turnout in four years.
“”I was overall pretty stoked about the turnout we had,”” Lam stated. “”I personally feel like this is one of the best lineups we’ve ever booked at UCSD (not in terms of name recognition, but in terms of the artists’ musical talents). So what [if] we didn’t fill up the entire house, people had a great time and that is what’s most important.””
Despite the slow start and diminished crowd, many attendees still enjoyed themselves.
“”[Cursive] is one of my favorite bands I’ve seen at school,”” Fradkin said.
