Student reaction to rowdy DalFest crowd triggers angry response
An excited crowd jostles each other as the band plays. Some crowd-surf, some dance, others huddle in a corner with friends. This typical concert scene, and the rowdiness that can accompany it, is familiar to most students.
After DalFest — a concert series hosted by the Dalhousie Student Union on Sept. 12 and 13 — many students are reporting that the atmosphere was much more violent than would be expected from a university concert.
Second-year music student Rosalie Fralick complained on the DalFest Facebook page about the scene she witnessed at the Alvvays and Hey Rosetta! concerts.
“I’ve been at much bigger concerts and have seen them [Hey Rosetta!] live more than once and this was the worst environment I’ve ever experienced at an event like this,” posted Fralick.
Comments in response to Fralick’s post included: “If you can’t handle raucous camaraderie then the Maritimes may not be the place for you” and “white people have no chill.”
Third-year marine biology student Christine Beaudoin also commented on the DalFest page: “it’s like that at any stand up concert with enough energy to dance… if you hang out in the front, it’s go hard or go home… Sure it sucks when some people can’t just simply enjoy themselves at a concert, but this is most definitely not a Dalfest exclusive phenomenon.”
“There was a lot of aggression going on in the show, but you have to keep in mind the university context,” Beaudoin said when contacted for an interview. “A lot of that hype of the first week hasn’t dissipated yet.”
While Beaudoin’s view was that DalFest was nothing out of the ordinary, Sanford Hare posted a different opinion.
“I was at the very front and have never before been in such an aggressive pack of morons,” his comment reads. “Great concert, just a lot of drunk idiots who don’t really know how [to] party without ruining it for the 99% of us trying to have a good time.”
The reaction to Fralick’s Facebook comment also struck Hare.
“There was a whole backlash against her for voicing concerns, and I was really not okay with that,” says Hare.
“She’s right; it was a pretty ridiculous crowd. I enjoyed the music, but it was just way over the top, more than anything I’ve ever experienced. She shouldn’t be shit on just for voicing that.”
Danny Shanahan, VP student life for the DSU, doesn’t agree that the DalFest crowd was out of the ordinary.
“I have heard really great feedback from DALFEST this year from many students and other Dal community members and I believe we had one of the most successful events in terms of attendance this year!” says Shanahan via email. “It’s unfortunate that some folks found other attendees distracting.”
Fralick believes it wasn’t a matter of people being distracting, but instead, of showing no regard for those around them.
“I watched a girl having a panic attack in front of me, and everybody just stood there staring at her. They didn’t do anything,” says Fralick. “I’ve been at metal concerts where people have similar cases of anxiety, and everybody makes way and helps them out.”
With such a wide range of opinions about the DalFest crowds, many students wondered whether there would be a way to avoid the atmosphere that upset some of their peers.
Some commented that their Dal IDs were not checked, despite assurances that the event would be Dal-only. Beaudoin insists this was not a part of the problem.
“It’s nothing to do with IDs. What would really help, which I have often seen at concerts, is some kind of crowd control,” says Beaudoin. “Security will step in and remove troublemakers from the crowd. When people see others kicked out, it de-motivates them to act that way.”
For a student-targeted event such as DalFest, rowdiness is an expected part of the atmosphere. That was not the issue for many students. Instead, it was what they found to be the ferocity of the crowd. To others, the show was nothing out of the ordinary.
“The majority of people there just wanted to do their own thing,” says Hare. “But others ended up being pretty violent … unintentionally, I’m sure, but still pigheaded and just not caring for those around them.”
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