Unlike last year, RIMAC Arena was able to accommodate every UCSD student who showed up to this year’s FallFest on Oct. 10, allowing over 2,000 people to cram onto the arena floor and bleachers to see the 2002 lineup of Jurassic 5, MxPx and Blackalicious.
Last year, the A.S. programming office faced a crowd that overwhelmed RIMAC’s capacity and was forced to turn away students due to the lack of space. The A.S. programming office tried to anticipate this predicament by switching the venue to RIMAC field to accommodate the overwhelmingly large demand. However, FallFest was forced to yield the open-air venue to the men’s soccer team, which was scheduled to play a home game that evening.
“”FallFest is one of the bigger events of the year, and unfortunately, everyone who is a UCSD student probably will not get in,”” said Morag Day, an A.S. programming office representative, before the Oct. 11 event.
Inside the large acoustic arena of the RIMAC amphitheater, the lights dimmed in anticipation for the first act of the night: Blackalicious.
A current of voices carried into an ocean of yells when the band members made a suspenseful entrance onto the stage, one by one. The heavy base beats and fast lyrical styling of frontman Gift of Gab in such fan favorites as “”A to G”” drew whoops and applause alike.
MxPx exploded onto the stage in an outburst of heavy guitar, bass and drums. The unified crowd of bodies that swayed to the steady rhythm of Blackalicious then broke into moshing and jumping to MxPx hits, such as “”Chick Magnet,”” “”Tomorrow’s Another Day”” and a few covers of older tunes redone in the bands pop-punk style.
Following MxPx, Los Angeles-based hip-hoppers Jurassic 5 took the stage and performed a set that included songs off of their new album, “”Power in Numbers.”” Jurassic 5’s lyrical talent, coupled with the avant-garde mixing of DJs Nu-Mark and Cut Chemist, kept students well-entertained.
“”Their show is an example of why they’re one of the best live performing hip-hop artists in the business,”” said student Thomas Chu.
Jurassic 5 responded to the audience’s strong response with an encore of freestyle rapping.
Many concert-goers felt the evening was a success.
“”It was the best FallFest I’ve been to,”” said Jason Korniski, a Earl Warren College junior. “”I hope this means there’s going to be an awesome Sun God.