By KYLIE POWERS
Staff Writer
Saint Rose’s annual music festival Rocktoberfest in Jack’s Place occurred last Saturday, Oct. 24. Starting at noon, people could enter the Hearst Center and enjoy the sounds of nearly a half a dozen musical bands, groups, and other student musicians. The admission was free and there was a concession table out front with inexpensive snacks and drinks.
The concert series was hosted by MISA, the Music Industry Student Association. Anyone who is a student of Saint Rose and a music industry major can join.
Performances of all genres were welcomed, and the show ran from noon on Saturday to later that evening. Set up, however, began the Friday evening before, as musicians and tech people set up the stage and the sound systems in Jack’s Place.
Students of all ages and musical backgrounds were encouraged to perform, and the audience seemed to be very impressed, dancing or nodding along. The stage area was decorated in spiders and cobwebs for upcoming Halloween.
Student musicians also were seen playing in the lobby of the Hearst Center. Students watching and performers were seen milling through the entire day.
One of these students was William Fredette, a junior music industry major at Saint Rose who performed with his retro rock band BoyGoFast. Having performed at every Rocktoberfest since he arrived at Saint Rose, Fredette laughed when asked about past experiences and mentioned the year before, where his band somehow set the fire alarm off, a true testament that anything can happen at Rocktoberfest.
“The best thing about Rocktoberfest is the wide variety of music,” he added.
Indeed, Rocktoberfest has been known to feature everything from DJs to jazz bands to solo performances.
Patrick Sullivan, a music industry major added that BoyGoFast set was “fantastic,” just as many of the other performers at Rocktoberfest.
“It’s really nice to get just a bunch of people together,” added Fredette.
Though the word was at times hard to get out, Matt Dalton, lead singer and guitarist of the indie grunge band The Bonnie Masons, thought it was a good turnout. Dalton, a junior music industry major at Saint Rose and a transfer student from University of Massachusetts in Boston, had just finished a set when I asked him about Rocktoberfest.
“I owe a lot of it to the freshmen,” he mentioned, “for getting the word out and getting people hyped.”
Many of those attending Rocktoberfest for the first time were curious freshmen and first year students. He also added it’s wonderful that everyone can attend the event for free.
And indeed, some of the musicians were freshman. Ryan O’Dea is a music industry major and a freshman at Saint Rose, who performed a cover of Imagine Dragons’ “Radioactive” on piano with his group. He had been there for a long time, even helping out with set up the night before.
MISA had initially asked him to help set up and of course, thanks to encouragement from his fellow music industry majors, he ended up performing.
“It is completely rewarding,” explained O’Dea of his experience at Rocktoberfest. O’Dea added he was very happy to be going to a school with so many other phenomenal musicians. Overall, he thought Rocktoberfest was a great, high-energy, exciting event for students to listen to good music and to have fun.
Rocktoberfest finished in the evening on Saturday and returns every October at Saint Rose for any musicians and music lovers in the future.
