By CONOR SHEA
Executive Editor
—
The weather on Saturday, Sept. 13 was not forgiving, with temperatures dipping into the 40’s, and rain coming frequently all day. Despite this fact, the attendees of this year’s annual Pearl Palooza music festival were out in force. The concert lasted from 1 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., and was sponsored by the 102.7 FM WEQX radio station.
In total 7 bands played, with the set list including The Weeks, Broods, and Wild Adriatic.
The Northern Faces, a local rock band, played at the event as well, and drew considerable cheers from the crowd, possibly because of its connection to the area.
Kellyrose Marry, a student at Siena College, was able to meet the band while at the festival and said she was pleased at how friendly the members were. “They were really appreciative of people wanting to talk to them. They even thanked me for coming out in the rain,” said Marry.
Owner of the Pearl Street Pub, Chris Pratt, said that for him it’s more about the concert than the foot traffic it brings. “It’s tremendous. What’s great about it is it’s centered around the music, as opposed to some of the other festivals. It’s probably one of the purest music festivals this city has.”
“It’s great for our business too, it brings the kind of crowd we’d love to have in here on a regular basis,” Pratt conceded on the bump in business Pearl Palooza provides.
A lighting designer for the show, Chris Duffy, has worked at Pearl Palooza previously and said that they are known for their coordination and organization. He also mentioned that the rain wasn’t too much of a hiccup, and the main challenge was just to keep the equipment dry and covered.
Shaun Evans, an attendee of Pearl Palooza, set up a booth in order to take advantage of the high foot traffic to spread the word about his mission. That mission is to complete an ultra-marathon across the United States with his 8-year-old son, Shamus, who is confined to a wheelchair due to cerebral palsy.
“My wife and I are both WEQX fans, so we listen all the time, and we thought it would be the perfect event for us to come out and share our mission.”
Sean Creane, another attendee of the concert said he found it by accident. “I was here for a different event over at the Hilton, and we snuck away to come over here,” said Creane, laughing.
Capital Q Smokehouse was just one of the many food trucks and vendors stationed along Pearl Street.
“We’re hoping that the crowd will be enthusiastic despite the rain,” said Sean Custer, the owner of the smoke house.
Jeff Morad, the program director at EQX, was busy throughout the event coordinating everything, but managed to spare a few seconds to comment on his experience.
When asked what the planning of suc
h an expansive event was like he replied, “Stressful as all get-out. We start planning in January and wrap up about 8:30 tonight.”
“It’s very fluid. We just kind of go with the flow with this kind of thing,” he continued.
Even with all the stress of planning and coordinating the day of, Morad said he manages to find time to step back and appreciate the event.
“That’s why we throw this party, for us. It just so happens that other people come,” he said.
Shane Spillenge, the concept promoter for Pearl Palooza, mirrored Morad’s appreciation of the event and explained why he feels the stress is worth it.
“Every year when we’re getting going and we’re like ‘why are we doing this,’ but then the day of we’re like ‘this is why we do it.’”
