Lured by music, free T-shirts and gorgeous weather, students congregated on Gold Coast lawn for the Programming Board’s “Fallapalooza” concert on Friday evening. Student band The Euphemisms opened with a set influenced by funk, reggae and alternative rock, while professional acts Grizfolk, Oh Honey and RDGLDGRN played a mix of alternative rock and indie pop.
Students milled around the lawn during the event, talking and taking part in various activities like the traditional strongman strength test game and golf-themed dart game, run by Programming Board volunteers. Some students congregated in front of the stage, where an overhang provided refuge from the sun, though other attendees tanned in front of the Fahey-McLane residential cluster.
The Euphemisms played covers of Average White Band’s “Pick Up the Pieces,” The Strokes’s “Someday” and Viceroy’s “Chase Us Around.” The group also performed a mash-up of Kool and The Gang’s “Get Down on It” and Nelly’s “Ride Wit Me,” as well as Of Monsters and Men’s “Little Talks” and Avicii’s “Wake Me Up.”
The group drew a seated audience on the lawn and provided a soundtrack to those battling through a “Boulderdash” inflatable obstacle course and jumping on a bungee trampoline.
Following opener The Euphemisms was Grizfolk, a five-man group about to embark on a national tour with Bastille. The group played Americana folk music inflected with influences from electro-pop, including covers of songs like David Bowie’s “Suffragette City” as well as original singles like “The Ripple.”
After Grizfolk, Oh Honey took the stage. The indie pop duo charmed as the sun set on Gold Coast, bringing several audience members to their feet. The group’s sweet lyrics and honest sound appealed to many at the show, especially “Be Okay,” a crowd favorite already familiar to some after being featured on “Glee” in March.
Oh Honey toured with The Fray this summer and will begin a national tour with American Authors in October.
MisterWives was slated to perform next but canceled when Mandy Lee, the group’s lead singer, fell ill. Many students were disappointed to hear the news, as the group was one of the better-known acts in the planned lineup, having played on campus in the spring.
Staff working the event initially set up for MisterWives to perform but switched the set-up to accommodate RDGLDGRN, the final act. The crowd thinned during this delay.
MisterWives had just completed a two-month tour with American Authors and The Royal Concept, leaving Lee a bit ragged, Leif Harder, Programming Board concert director, said. The group may schedule a make-up concert on campus later in the school year, he said.
RDGLDGRN, which derives its name from band members’ stage names — guitarist Red, vocalist and bass player Gold and singer and guitarist Green — played a set influenced by indie music and go-go, a subgenre of funk that originated in the band’s hometown of Washington, D.C. The spectators interacted the most with this act, as band members pumped up the audience with shout-outs throughout the set and invited students to dance and sing along.
Many onlookers did not need encouragement and danced from the beginning of the set. Original single “I Love Lamp” included a rousing chorus with student help, and at one point, Green invited students onstage to dance.
RDGLDGRN’s originals like “Doing the Most” and “Million Fans” were particular standouts in the set.
The group explored Hanover before the show, interacting with students and making a key purchase at the Dartmouth Co-op. Green sported a Dartmouth tee at the concert, though he did not get a discount, as he told audience members.
Bukola Badipe-Hart ’15, who was not familiar with the group before the show, said she met the group’s members during the day and was excited to see them perform. The Euphemisms also drew her to the concert, she said.
“I think it’s great to see the student-run bands come out,” Badipe-Hart said. “It encourages the music scene.”
While the crowd at the event consisted of many members of the Class of 2018, it also represented a diverse selection of the Dartmouth community. The concert was included on the “First Six” program calendar, which promotes events open to freshmen during the six-week ban from Greek houses serving alcohol.
“I think it’s a great idea,” Stylianos Tegas ’17, who attended the concert, said about “Fallapalooza.” “I think it’s a good thing at the beginning of the term to have alternative social spaces for people, especially because this weekend is rush.”
Dale Li ’18 said “free food, music, and bouncy houses” brought her to “Fallapalooza,” while Emily Yang ’18 said she enjoyed attending a campus-wide event that featured a festival-like atmosphere.
“Fallapalooza” was The Eupemisms’s first performance of the term and an “extremely strong” showing by the group, saxaphonist and singer Hannah O’Flynn ’15 said.
O’Flynn described the band’s influences as “funk, ska and alternative rock,” ska referring to a genre that preceded modern reggae.
The group includes lead singer Dan Calano ’15, bassist and flutist Leif Harder ’15, trumpeter and synth keyboard player Ben Meyer ’15, guitarist Carl Neisser ’15, drummer Moises Silva ’16, guitarist Zach Wooster ’15 and O’Flynn.
The band added Meyer and Wooster this term, which has changed the group’s sound, Neisser said. The band has evolved from low-key jam sessions during summer 2013 to its current seven-member act with consistent bookings at student events.
“Now that we have keyboard and a second guitar, we can’t just do exclusively Sum 41 and Blink-182,” Neisser said.
