Shiuan Cheng / Daily Nexus

A partly cloudy Santa Barbara Sunday and Associated Students Program Board brought a large crowd of students to UC Santa Barbara’s Harder Stadium this past weekend for the annual Gaucho-only Extravaganza event. Performers included Destroy Lonely, Remi Wolf and headliner Galantis — a diverse group of performers that all succeeded in captivating the crowd. The crowd consisted of crochet tops, scarves, funky sunglasses all an array of colors, with mushroom covered tote bags, courtesy of Associated Students Program Board, and of course, cowboy boots made an appearance. A variety of on and off campus organizations sold snacks and refreshments. Woodstock’s pizza slices also speckled the crowd. 

Around 1:30 p.m., in a red leather motorcycle jacket with his sticker decked computer, DJ JohnnyIV welcomed in the Extravaganza-goers, a crowd member shouting out “I love you JohnnyIV” as his set continued. He played mixes of songs like “Pepas” and “Toxic,” which riled up the crowd in preparation for Destroy Lonely. 

Rapper JPEGMafia was originally scheduled to perform first, but shortly before the event “due to unforeseen circumstances,” as posted on the Associated Students Program Board (ASPB) Instagram, the rapper was unable to perform, bringing a short-lived wave of disappointment across the crowd. 

“I am most looking for JPEGMafia, but he dropped. Now looking forward to Remi Wolf,” first-year Landon O’Rourke said. 

“I’m excited for Destroy Lonely. I’m gonna cry myself to sleep because JPEGMafia isn’t here. That’s what I was here for,” third-year Kellen Beckett said.

Shiuan Cheng / Daily Nexus

Destroy Lonely took the stage, and any and all disappointment faded as the crowd began screaming and phones were immediately pulled out. In a black long sleeve, silk tear-away pants and chunky silver jewelry, the rapper began his set with “Watch My Back.” A horror visual loop played on the screen behind him — a cross burned, knife flashed, ghosts crucified and red, bloody letters spelling, “if looks could kill.” 

There were no breaks in between songs, as one ended the next immediately started, with few words spoken by the rapper in between (he kept the autotune on his mic throughout the set, so it was difficult to make out anyway). He electrified the crowd halfway through with “NOSTYLIST,” to which he was greeted with a phone being thrown on stage. 

Destroy Lonely finished his set with “if looks could kill,” the namesake track of his latest album release. Garnering screams of excitement from the audience, he left the stage with  one final comment. 

“UCSB I love you. Stay the fuck in school. Get your money,” he said.

Shiuan Cheng / Daily Nexus

Indie pop singer Remi Wolf was next to hit the stage, performing in a “Kiss me, I’m Italian” t-shirt as the sun emerged from behind the clouds, lighting up the crowd. The crowd laughed and danced to Wolf’s witty lyrics and infectious beats. 

Wolf was backed by a drummer, trumpeter, bassist and electric guitarist who grooved right along with her, creating a signature UCSB sound and sunny day staple. Midway through her set, drummer Conor Malloy switched places with her. As she drummed and he took the mic, he shouted out positive affirmations to the crowd, to which he was met with eager participation. 

Keeping the Gauchos on their toes, she brought out her college friend, in honor of it being a college show, and he juggled while she played “Disco Man.”

Wolf reciprocated the crowd’s energy, running back and forth across the stage, jumping to her own beat. She closed with her biggest hit, the funky pop song “Photo ID.”  The crowd chanted the chorus with Wolf, smiling as they sang “Lit in line, smile for the photo ID.” If people did not know her before, they left with a multitude of songs to add to their playlists. 

“Remi went the fuck off. I don’t even listen to her like that, but Remi went down. She served,” fourth-year Claire Oertly said. 

Following Wolf’s exit, the crowd buzzed with anticipation for the headlining act, Galantis, the popular Swedish EDM artist. Many members in the crowd bonded over their enthusiasm towards experiencing an EDM set for the first time. 

“I’m excited to see if Galantis is one person, two people or a group,” Beckett said. 

After a 15-minute wait, Disney’s “The Mandalorian” theme song began to echo through Harder Stadium and the back screens began flashing “Galantis” in a multitude of fonts while electronic voices said his name in an overlapping fashion. In the meantime, Galantis ran onto the stage in an all-black ensemble as the crowd cheered, starting off his electronic dance music set. Beckett then received his answer: the electronic dance music act consists of one person, Swedish record producer Christian Karlsson.

Shiuan Cheng / Daily Nexus

Once on stage, Galantis opened with his most popular Grammy-nominated track, “Runaway (U & I).”

At the beat drop, he addressed the crowd. 

“SANTA BARBARA, ARE YOU READY FOR THIS?” he screamed. 

 The crowd responded with a roar of approval and screamed the opening lyrics, “Think I can fly,” in unison. Phones and hands were up, bumping the air and feeding off the liveliness of the track.  

Equipped with a DJ booth, headphones and a microphone, Galantis hypnotized the audience, with students jumping in perfect synchronization as he played popular tracks, such as “Peanut Butter Jelly” and “Love on Me.”

Galantis shouted phrases out to the audience, like “UCSB, let’s bring the fucking beat back,” and led the crowd in a “whoop-whoop” call-and-response. 

When the speakers blared “We Are Young” by fun., the crowd went wild. While the fast beat and electronic additions converted the popular track into a dance anthem, students swayed to the beat with arms around their friends.  

Amidst the excitement, crowd issues continued throughout Galantis’ set, with multiple people carried out by security due to anxiety attacks. The hot sun and humid atmosphere led to many students suffering from dehydration. Audience members passed a water bottle across the crowd to aid a student who was near passing out. 

Galantis closed out his performance with another rendition of “Runaway (U & I)”, interpolating with “STAY” by Justin Bieber and The Kid LAROI. Pointing to the sky and jumping up and down, Galantis led students through his grand finale and yelled, “UCSB, Santa Barbara, make some motherfucking noise!” The audience followed his request, dancing with their hands in the air and hoisting a student up to crowd surf.

When the track ended, Galantis thanked the crowd, saying, “Thank you so much for having me, I love you” and ran off the stage to the theme of Disney’s “The Mandalorian,” just like how his set began. This confused some crowd members, and people began to chant, “One more song!” in hopes of an encore. 

As “The Mandalorian” theme continued on, it became clear Galantis was done performing for the day. Tired students exited the crowd, stopping at water stations or reconnecting to take pictures with their friends. As they made their way out, they reflected on the afternoon’s performances.

“I think it was a pretty good line up,” first-year Mark Folely said as he was walking out with friends. “JPEGMafia canceling was disappointing for me, but overall Galantis and Destroy Lonely was good. I think [ASPB] did a good job this year.”

“A.S. should really consider having better supporting acts instead of making us all wait until the end for the main act. I came here just for Galantis,” second-year Nandini Iyer said. 

Regardless, the “Tea Party” themed festival was packed with energy and excitement from students and performers alike, making 2023’s Extravaganza a success.

A version of this article appeared on p. 1 of the May 25, 2023, print edition of the Daily Nexus.