By SERIAH SARGENTON
Staff Writer
Saint Rose students celebrated Halloween by watching five bands battle it out for the chance of becoming the opening act at Rose Rock, the biggest music event of the spring semester on the College of Saint Rose campus.
The second annual Saint Rose Fear Fest was held inside Saint Joseph’s auditorium. Food, games, and admission were all free.
It was decided at the end of the event that the band Miss This would be performing as the opener at the spring concert.
“We tried to keep our sound energetic and fun,” said lead guitarist Nicholas Pappalardo.
Miss this has always thought of performing as opener.
“We think it’s a great way to expand our audience and get our music out there” Pappalardo said.
Students were given the opportunity to vote for the opener by dropping the raffle ticket they were given when first entering the auditorium in the bucket with their favorite bands name on it. Students were given until the end of the night to cast their vote.
Fear Fest was organized with the hopes of giving students an alternative to going out on Halloween, and having a good time according to Vi
to VanDunk, Student Associations social director of activities. One goal that the committee had for this year Fear Fest was to “really showcase more Saint Rose students, ” VanDunk said.
“We just wanted as much people as possible have this experience,” said Catherine Rodriguez, a member of the committee in charge of planning Fear Fest and Rose Rock.
“It’s a nice way to celebrate Halloween on a Monday,” junior student Ida Ainslie-Hamblin said.
Hamblin attended Fear fest with fellow students Maya Yomboro and Georgia Ainslie-Hamblin. All three students attended Fear Fest last year, and said that this year was just as good.
“The committee did a great job,” Yomboro stated as she was jamming to a song being performed by Young Culture, a Saint Rose pop rock band. “I’m having a good time, and I’m happy I came with Ida,” Georgia Hamblin said.
Fear Fest was not just fun for the audience members, but for the bands participating as well.
Scheduled last to perform was well known Saint Rose heavy rock band Bad Mothers, and just before hitting the stage, main guitarist Patrick Flores said “we’ve been planning to perform as the Rose Rock opener since freshman year.” Most recently the band released a lyric video and newest single of I Hate The Road, which was performed alongside some old hit songs. When asked how excited Flores was about being chosen to perform he simply stated “we’re soaked up” and he was looking forward to hearing the band Young Culture perform live for the first time.
Besides extreme excitement, Flores said he was grateful for his friends who were performing in the other band that night who are always supporting him. “It’s the best feeling in the world to get support from friends”.
Pianist Elena Karpoff from the folk pop rock band Callout Culture, who performed second after Miss This, could say the same. For Callout Culture this was only the second time they have performed for a school event, but they have toured to Philadelphia, Utica, and Syracuse. At their performances, most of the audience members consist of their closest friends, which is important for Karpoff.
Winning Fear Fest would be a “great opportunity to be apart of the Saint Rose community” according to Callout Culture guitarist and oboe player Conor Grocki. After performing Grocki described his performance as “lowkey” as a way to describe their acoustic style for the night.
Last year about 300 students attended Fear Fest, and “our numbers are close to last year” VanDunk said. He is proud of the work the Fear Fest/Rose Rock committee.
Vandunk added, “Knowing that students enjoyed the event makes all the work I’ve been doing since the beginning of the year worth it.”
