Around 7:30 Friday night, the doors for the Zeds Dead concert opened and students began to flood Ritchie Coliseum, pumping their fists and dancing before the music even started.
Student Entertainment Events’ 2015 Fallapalooza began with double-knotted shoes, an impromptu breakdance performance that only the first twenty or so attendees were lucky enough to witness, and a lot of running that led to long-awaited hugs.
The Snapchatting started early, as SEE had landed a geotag for the event and was offering a chance for free tickets to the Homecoming Comedy Show to those who used it. People screamed and collected their friends before the lights went down, trying to get their energy up after a long day of classes.
That energy surged the moment the lights clicked off and the stage strobes lit up. SEE representatives came up and gave their standard spiel on safety and upcoming events, and then it was time to bring the student openers to the stage.
About a month ago, SEE opened up a mixing competition, encouraging student DJs to submit their work in hopes of being selected to open for Zeds Dead. The winners were Ddrez and Blazen, both fairly popular Washington-area artists. The former began the night with a bang — many students who didn’t know what Zeds Dead looked like thought Ddrez was the headliner. Blazen kept the vibe rolling by coming on stage with Ddrez, mixing a song with him and then starting his own equally great music.
After the first thousand people packed the general admission section, the doors were locked and all remaining audience members were ushered upstairs to the bleachers. This frustrated many students who paid for tickets and expected to have floor access, but arrived too late to be allowed in.
However, the night continued in great spirits. Even those who had no option but to stand above the stage still danced and appeared to have an equally great time as those on the floor. Downstairs, though, there was visibly a lot of room behind the main crowd of students standing at the stage, causing many to wonder if there actually were a thousand people down there or not.
People left the concert in the middle of sets, but the doors to the main floor were not reopened. The room emptied as the night progressed, giving it a sparse appearance, but that space left a lot of room for people to back off one another, let loose and just dance.
Zeds Dead climbed on stage after a very short intermission. The moment the music started, it became truly impossible to stand still; the springboard flooring of the gymnasium-style room bounced crazily the whole night.
In their hour-and-a-half set, they played through their most popular songs, “You Know,” “Collapse,” and “Lost You,” accompanied by strange projected graphics typical of EDM. The sound quality was great for such a small room, no matter the location.
They also played some great reworks of other famous EDM songs, like Galantis’ “Runaway (U & I),” which lit up the whole room. The music paused for one second as the artists made a request for everyone to hunch down, then jump up when the bass dropped. From above, the audience exhibited the most amount of energy they would all night.
The concert could be viewed as a sort of trial run for EDM concerts on the campus, as problems with party drugs often accompany this style of music, but the show went off without a hitch, and everyone left with sweat dripping down their necks and the biggest smiles on their faces.
