Although SA put more money into this year's lineup, many students were unhappy with the change in the admission process and the zones inside of the arena that placed students in designated seating areas.
Travis Scott, Rae Sremmurd, Lil Yachty and D.R.A.M. were featured in this years' concert that packed Alumni Arena at the start of Saturday's show. Fall Fest cost the Student Association roughly $350,000 on the total production of the show, according to SA President Matt Rivera. The total cost included added security measures, zone barricades and food and hospitality for the artists. Approximately $190,000 was spent on talent compared to the $163,000 spent on last year's show. Fall Fest and Spring Fest are funded by the mandatory student activity fee of $104.75 per semester.
Saturday’s projected weather forced SA to move the concert from outside at Baird Point to inside Alumni Arena. The new ticket policy, which required students to reserve tickets in advance, led to a smaller crowd and complications from the different colored zones.
SA reserved 6,194 tickets and 500 additional tickets were purchased for guests. Rivera was unable to give the exact number of how many people were in attendance because not all tickets were scanned during admission.
The line to get into the show began to form at 4:30 p.m. and doors opened at 5 p.m.
Once the thunderstorm approached, all procedures went out the window as staff tried to hurry as many people inside as they could. It added to the chaos as students used this as an opportunity to skip the line, which caused a further backup.
But to some students, the final act may have made the hassle to get in worth it.
Dressed head to toe in black, Travis Scott proved to be the highlight of the night, playing track after track to a much smaller than anticipated crowd, since the majority of concertgoers left after Lil Yachty’s performance. Students flocked to the arena to see the trap-themed show.
Scott entered the stage and began to perform heavy metal rap, which was much different than the trap sounds from the earlier performers.
Before starting his set, he put out a warning for those in the crowd.
“If anyone is afraid of what’s about to happen in the crowd for the next 40 or 45 minutes, I suggest you get out right now,” Scott said. “If you’re not gonna rage, get out right now.”
D.R.A.M took the stage at 6:40 p.m. and told the crowd to yell “yea” if they “loved their mommas.”
It seemed as if the D.R.A.M’s song selection, accompanied with the sounds system, didn’t do much to get the crowd going past his first two songs, “Cash Machine” and “Cute,” respectively.
After performing his most recent singles, D.R.A.M performed tracks off of his Gahdamn! album, such as “Signals (Throw it Around)” and “$,” as well as hit song “Cha Cha.”
Students in the red and blue zones – which were directly in front of the stage – enjoyed the performances, but others thought the zones were inconvenient.
“If you’re going to have different sections you should have bigger ground levels, everyone is squeezed into the bleachers,” said Elizabeth Humphrey, a sophomore business major.
It wasn’t long before students began jumping the barricades between the green and red zones. Some students got through, while security guards pulled others away.
During Lil Yachty’s set, the bass of the sound system overcame everything else, to the point where he could not be heard over the bass.
During “One Night” and “Minnesota,” the crowd was excited to hear it, but when Yachty turned the microphone to the crowd to sing along, the crowd couldn’t even mumble the tune of the song.
“He’s original, he doesn’t care about the raps and brings a lot of energy to his performances,” said Benjamin Asamoah, a sophomore health and human services major.
Though many were unfamiliar with his music, the crowd loved Yachty’s energy and interaction.
“I liked it a lot, the high energy got the crowd going,” said Ethan Smith, a freshman bio engineering major. “I enjoyed it with the way the music was, but with the heavy bass it was hard to understand what he was saying.”
Many students were surprised that Lil Yachty performed “Broccoli” without bringing D.R.A.M out and that D.R.A.M performed the song earlier on his own.
Lil Yachty left the stage and tension rose between students in the floor section. People from the outside color zones were hopping over barriers to get a better view of Rae Sremmurd. Fights broke out as students looked for somewhere to stand.
Will Conklin, a freshman chemical engineering major, said he was in the front row of the pit and two guys were fighting behind him.
He was disappointed in the lack of security to break up the fights and felt bad for the surrounding girls who were accidently injured.
“There were these two guys fighting behind me and no one did anything about it,” Conklin said. “I was expecting a security guard or an event staff to come over and remove them for fighting, but they just kept at it.”
The crowd grew increasingly rowdier and the emergency staff on hand became busier. Some students were carried out with bloody noses.
Once Rae Sremmurd took the stage, the arena erupted with excitement. They played hit singles such as “No Type,” “Throw Some Mo,” and “Look Alive.” Slim Jimmy ran onto the stage in a pink fur coat jacket, while his counterpart Swae Lee got the crowd going.
The crowd exploded at the first beat of “No Flex Zone,” and the rap-duo played for just over an hour before Scott took the stage.
Even students that didn’t know Scott before the show appreciated his energy.
“It was dope, I felt he got the crowd more alive than Rae and Yachty, I didn’t know him prior to this, but it was pretty chill though,” said Joshua Stlouis, an undecided freshman.
Scott performed his hits like “Antidote” and “Upper Echelon,” and his newer singles, “A-Team” and “Pick up the phone.”
He kept the energy going throughout his entire performance, but he used the intro to Kanye West’s “Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 1” as a break before raging once again.
Kenneth Kashif Thomas and Max Kalnitz are the senior features editor and senior arts editor. They can be reached at kenneth.thomas@ubspectrum.com and max.kalnits@ubspectrum.com.
Follow them on Twitter at @KenUBspec and @mkalnitz
Photo: Paul Hokanson / UB Athletics
Photo: Meredith Forrest Kulwicki
