noise++ with matty & derek

Last Friday marked the first AMS Block Party at UBC, an event to celebrate the last day of classes. For the last 16 years this day has been known as Art’s County Fair. It was recently canceled due to supposed financial reasons. AFC was usually recognized more as a day that everyone on campus got drunk at frats than a day for music (at least in the last few years when I attended). Even so, AFC hosted the likes of The New Pornographers, K-OS, and Matthew Good. The funny part was the majority of the audience rarely seemed that interested in the bands. After a morning, afternoon, and early evening of hard drinking it is difficult to focus on a band, let alone stand up straight. On top of that, most of the people who paid to get in were there mostly for the beer garden and tiny doughnuts. I always felt kinda bad for the bands, who were usually abused. Objects where often thrown on stage, which usually left the bands wondering what they were doing there in the first place. I guess that is just what you would expect from a drunk and rowdy crowd of students on the last day of classes.

Wait… Where was I? — Right, the Block Party.

This year, the whole event was a lot more tame. Instead of being hosted at a big stadium, it was just a fenced off area of the field by the Student Union building. There was also a much more modest roster of Stars, Wintersleep, and The Most Serene Republic. I really love Stars and made sure to take some time out of my otherwise occupied schedule to catch them at the end. It was odd seeing a mosh pit in the middle of a Stars concert but I guess that was to be expected. Oh and don’t worry, they didn’t leave without having the lead singer hit with a hurdled object. They actually handled it pretty well. All in all, the concert was good. I’m sure anyone sober enough to notice would agree with me.