On Saturday, May 15, thousands of inebriated students descended upon Harder Stadium to enjoy an afternoon of music and overpriced Monster. Associated Students had a lineup of bands guaranteed to thrill and promised faster-moving lines than last year’s debacle. Sounds like a recipe for a great time, right? Sadly, this couldn’t be further from the reality of what happened.
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[/media-credit]It all started with the line outside. Because I really didn’t care about Soul Minded — the winner of A.S. Program Board’s Battle of the Bands contest — I figured that I would show up at 2 p.m. in time to see Super Mash Bros. and the rest of the lineup. After the enormous line from last year’s Extravaganza, this year’s organizers were allegedly taking steps to reduce wait times, so I wasn’t too worried about showing up an hour into the event. Boy, was I wrong. I got in line at 2 p.m. and didn’t get into Harder Stadium until 4 p.m. I missed the first two sets and was too pissed off to enjoy Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros.
The complete and utter lack of organization and preparedness was a total fail on behalf of the organizers. Let me draw a parallel: This year’s Floatopia was cancelled because the student organizers failed to show adequate preparations for a safe and sanitary experience. I agreed with that decision. So how did the school show their ability to plan a better, safer event? By making 10,000 drunken college students stand in line for two hours without trashcans, restrooms or adequate police supervision. The amount of piss, vomit and trash in and around Harder Stadium is a testament to the school’s hypocrisy.
The truly sad thing about Extravaganza was that, although it was marketed as a free concert, UCSB students had already paid for it with their registration fees. So tell me, Associated Students, why the hell didn’t we get priority admission into our concert? Let me offer some advice: Next year, have one line for UCSB students and another line for out-of-towners. Let the students in first, and once they are all in, charge the visitors $20 for admission. Why should I have to pay for them?
I graduated in March, so I won’t be around to see if these suggestions are taken to heart, but please, Associated Students, step your game up. Extravaganza is a great event if executed properly, but when you show a complete lack of preparation, it ruins the whole experience. I’m not opposed to letting non-UCSB students in, but show some respect for the students who paid for it and let them in first. Rent some Porta Potties and trashcans as well. If there’s one thing I hate more than seeing someone piss on a power converter box in Harder Stadium, it’s my alma mater’s hypocrisy in cancelling one event to make the same mistakes in another.
sandy vagina
“was too pissed off to enjoy Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros.”
it’s a free concert, Edward Sharpe put on a great show. Sorry you couldn’t enjoy it because you were so hung up on the cruel injustices of waiting in a line.
is this your first festival or something?
@ Sandy Vagina:
Don’t get hung up on the small details. If that’s what you took away from my article, you completely missed the point.
I 150% agree on the article, and was thinking about writing the same thing myself. first off, aspb puts on the show without any input about who/what groups students want to see. its our student funds that are paying for the show, we should chose who we want to see. and since we are paying, we shouldn’t be allowing out of towners to come and take advantage of this event for free. they should be forced to pay and wait in a separate line at least. I thought this years lineup was DREADFUL and hope next year is more diverse.… Read more »
@Doug – I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to pat down 10,000 people entering a stadium, but it takes a while. Never mind your entitled attitude, as if Program Board asked for anything more than a few bucks to host amazing events. What I love the most is that you bitch about out of towners, guess what alumnus, you’ve graduated, you’re an out of towner too now! But here’s the best part, let’s say they did skip security, you’re the same person that would write a bitchy article about how someone threw a bottle and it hit you, and… Read more »
Let’s all thank the huge gaping asshole for enlightening us. I know this is a wild idea, but maybe instead of throwing all of this back in our faces, you can take the few points of constructive criticism in the author’s original rant back to the next ASPB meeting and work towards improving next year’s show.
Yes, I am an alumnus. I graduated a quarter early because I guess I’m just a lot smarter than you. I still live in IV, and I work on campus. My registration fees still went to pay for this event, and I had every right to attend. Stop being such a bitch.
And you know what? I probably WOULD complain if someone threw a bottle at my head. You talk as if that’s expected and acceptable. It is neither.
“I graduated a quarter early because I guess I’m just a lot smarter than you.”
ladies and gentlemen, Doug is a true gentleman.
Doug, I’m sorry you didn’t have fun at extravaganza :( especially when you’re such a smart boy.
HEY!
I missed Extravaganza, was Drake any good?
@dailysuxass – Much like our mutual friend Doug here, I’m also an alumnus, but if you want to go tell ASPB yourself, they’ve got a meeting every week, or an office you could walk into, or an email address, and probably a facebook, twitter, myspace, and whatever else useless social networking sites exist. @Doug – Please continue to try to have your cake and eat it too. You are an alumnus though, and you wouldn’t get to vote in AS elections, what makes you think you would have the right to go into a UCSB students entrance? If you had… Read more »
It seems as if many of you are under the impression that Doug is complaining for his own benefit. Obviously (from your numerous comments on the subject) you are aware that he has graduated early and whatever changes are made to Extravaganza will have little to no effect for him, but it will for many other students and participants. Your obnoxious need to break down every sentence of this article and individually ridicule it takes a way from the point of the piece: Extravaganza needs some work. I am aware that ASPB works tirelessly to put on fabulous activities for… Read more »