Once the tremendous dust cloud over the Residential Quad had settled, the hundreds present returned to their dorms after feeling the wrath of Fall Fest, Tufts' annual beginning-of-the-year celebration. Aside from the free food and trinkets provided by several promoters, the event offered Jumbos the opportunity to experience the live music of three diverse groups while spending time with their friends - and making new ones.
The celebration kicked off at 2 p.m., when volunteers from the Tufts Community Union Senate, which organized the event, started allowing students into the fenced-in pen that had been constructed on the Quad. Although the bands were slated to begin playing then, technical difficulties pushed back the start of live entertainment closer to 3 p.m. The first band to take the stage was the Danielle Geihs Band. Though the band was still running sound checks when the first Fall Festers arrived, they soon returned to the stage to put on an impressive set, something of a rarity for a band that opens a Tufts concert.
Singer and Tufts graduate Danielle Geihs, dressed in a red top, slinky black dress, and sexy leather boots, crooned to the still-gathering audience from behind the mic stand, earnestly showing off her vocal abilities. Current student Elio Deluca wowed students with his keyboard abilities, as he used his instrument to substitute for instruments not physically present. While he did play some straightforward piano music, he also used the keyboard as a bass. At one point, he used a distorted guitar setting to play through an entire "guitar" solo that would have left listeners in nearby dorms convinced that an electric guitar player was present. Sean McDermott, yet another Jumbo, held the band's melodies together with his delicate yet powerful drumming. The gathering crowd, seated on the lawn, greeted the end of each song with honest applause.
Rapper Common was next to take the stage. He and his deejay, D.J. Dummy, put on a rather interesting set, but failed to motivate the crowd. Dummy came onstage first and briefly ran through the history of hip-hop while warming up his turntables - from the time when the first emcees used power from "electricity poles" to throw house parties through the present, when one can buy any of the four Common CDs he shamelessly advertised. Common himself soon took the stage, dressed in yellow and olive green camouflage. He did try to motivate the audience, but the substantially larger crowd appeared unmoved throughout the set. Dummy mentioned he was glad to be at "Toofts," and Common soon found himself apologizing for that. "I know we ain't pronounced the school right, but it's still love, you know whaddumsayin'?" From the looks on many faces, the crowd did not, in fact, know what he was saying.
Common also let the Tufts crowd in on his philosophical thoughts about womanhood, calling for everyone to show more respect to the fairer sex. After all, "Women are more than just p**sy... They're strong souls." Though the rapper certainly had stage presence, it paled in comparison to that of hip-hop groups, such as two-member Naughty By Nature, which headlined last year's Fall Fest.
Between the last two bands, WMFO disc jockey Poppy Chulo held the Tuff Man Competition onstage, featuring five scantily clad and highly inebriated male upperclassmen, who participated in evening gown, swimwear, and talent competitions. The skit was rather funny, but will cause all those present to cringe when they hear the "Thong Song" for the next few weeks - even more than they used to.
This year's headlining act represented a completely different genre than last year's hip-hop show - Southern Cali ska-punk. Save Ferris, performing as a sextet, put on a fun and energetic show that engaged the crowd from the first note. They lost no time plunging straight into their hour-long set. Frontwoman Monique Powell, while not showing off her vocal range, engaged in some bathroom humor and found time to trash Christina Aguilera. She even managed to hit on several male audience members. As the band played on, students crowded up to the stage, frenetically dancing and jumping. Several mosh pits broke out, and some students even found themselves surfing above the crowd. "Look! The Ivy League kids are floating," exclaimed Powell. Well, almost Ivy.
Evan Kilbourne's intense drumming and the work of bassist Bill Uechi provided the backbone for the band's songs, while a simple two-piece horn section provided all the punch that was required. As concertgoers released pent-up energy from the first week of classes through dancing, a cloud of gray dust erupted over the Residential Quad. However, the crowd was having too much of a good time to mind. The set culminated with a two-song encore that featured Save Ferris's famous cover of Dexie's Midnight Runners' "Come On Eileen," whose title Powell translated into a very sexual context.
Traditionally, it seems, Fall Fest's popularity and roster of artists only attempts to mimic the success of Tufts' annual end-of-year celebration, Spring Fling. However, this year's concert not only proved itself educational (thanks, Common), but also enjoyable.
