On the evening of Oct. 13, UCSD echoed with the sound of electric guitar and grating vocals. The campus buzzed with anticipated excitement — FallFest 2006 was officially underway, and three bands had promised to break the sleepy college atmosphere with their high-energy riffs and lyrics.
Hot Hot Heat frontman Steve Bays shook his afro and displayed an energetic stage performance at this year’s FallFest, along with openers Danger: Radio and Gym Class Heroes, who took the stage Oct. 13 at RIMAC Arena.
FallFest opened with Danger: Radio, a baby-faced band from Seattle for whom the audience had high hopes. Rumors had circulated on the Internet that Danger intended to play a cover of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” which had spawned — among other things — a Facebook event involving a group of girls’ intention to “do the Thriller dance” at the concert for the press.
Danger disappointed; “Thriller” never happened. The band rebounded, though, with a series of ’80s-influenced pop/rock songs designed to boost the audience’s energy.
Eleanor Roosevelt College freshman Mina Ahmad praised “the (band’s) guitars and solos,” while nearby, another girl screamed, “I love hot hat man!” referring to Danger’s lead singer, Andrew de Torres.
At about 8:30 p.m., Danger left the stage, and were replaced by rock/rap entrepreneurs Gym Class Heroes. The Heroes used pinky promises and short comedy sketches between songs to boost the crowd’s participation.
Lead singer Travis McCoy’s rap-like lyrics blended with the dance-rock beats played by his band — and for the first few Heroes songs, the audience’s energy skyrocketed.
When McCoy shot down pop star Justin Timberlake’s claim of “I’m bringing sexy back,” however, the energy began to wane. Even McCoy’s clever, “The next time you run into [Timberlake] on the street, I want you to tell him that [sexy’s] already been broughten,” failed to boost audience participation, and ultimately many students judged the Heroes to be a “downer.”
“I really didn’t like them at all,” said Nick Edwards, a local San Diegan who paid to attend the concert with two friends. “They sucked. … We don’t actually know why we’re still here. Other than ‘cause we paid.”
Two FallFest security guards, both of whom declined to give their names, agreed. After Heroes left the stage, they said that FallFest 2006 was one of the calmest concerts they had ever worked.
“It’s actually really dull,” one said. “And the bands suck, which makes our job harder, because we can’t even enjoy the music.”
By the time headlining band Hot Hot Heat took the stage, RIMAC Arena seemed entirely lifeless. Name recognition did, however, earn Hot Hot Heat the right to a packed floor and an active mosh pit, complete with crowd surfers and windmilling.
The Canadian quartet’s unique style set them apart from the openers. Lead singer Steve Bays was a multitalented master, combining fast-paced lyrics with personal keyboard stylings and synchronized dance moves.
At one point, Bays asked, “How’s USC tonight?” and was met by a thick silence. However, Hot Hot Heat’s single “Middle of Nowhere” elicited more audience participation than any other song all night.
“I liked Hot Hot Heat a lot,” Thurgood Marshall College sophomore Jennifer Hines said. “I had never heard of them before, and I ended up really having a good time at the concert.”
While some students were happy with the lineup, others expressed satisfaction with the choices. A.S. Commissioner of Programming Di Lam stated in an e-mail that, contrary to criticism, all three bands were chosen from student input back in August.
“It is relatively difficult to find bands to play FallFest,” Lam stated. “For the past few years, arena-sized artists … like the All-American Rejects, Muse [and] Death Cab for Cutie … have been requesting more and more money, but because the FallFest [budget] has remained the same ($70,000), it has been getting harder and harder to find a band willing to play.”
Still, FallFest attracted about 4,100 students and 400 paid music-lovers, which, though a smaller turnout than last year, was still successful considering the day’s rain, according to Lam.
Most attendees ultimately had a good time at the concert.
“I thought the concert started out with a really great band and ended with a lot of energy,” Revelle College sophomore Manpreet Mumman said. “Overall, I thought it was a great concert.”
