The switch to semesters last year posed a problem for Number Fest organizers — push the concert back earlier into the spring or move the festival to the fall?
They chose both.
Although last year’s fall concert didn’t go as planned, with headliner Juicy J cancelling his performance days before to accept an invitation to play at the BET awards, fest founder Dominic Petrozzi said this year they have a formula that he believes will work.
“Rather than doing a Number Fest edition every fall and spring, we’re really focusing on blowing up the April event with huge artists like Kendrick Lamar and Steve Aoki, then regulating Halftime as a half-day event, still with nationally recognized artists but not as large-scale as what we’ll be doing in spring,” Petrozzi said.
This year’s first ever Halftime Fest will be headlined by Hoodie Allen, Riff Raff and The Chainsmokers. More artists are yet to be announced, including the eventual winners of an online contest voted on by the fans to decide which Athens group will join these acts on stage.
Halftime Fest is a play on words to incorporate the halfway mark between the two festivals as well as the football season. But, Petrozzi said it’s also meant to signify a shorter, hopefully safer, event.
“It’ll kick off at 4 p.m. and wrap up at 10:30 p.m., so it’s not quite as long as the usual Number Fest,” Petrozzi said. “One of the things we are trying to implement with this event is … limiting the amount of time that students have out there to consume alcohol.”
Many students such as Rusty Brumbaugh, a sophomore studying journalism, said the party can get out of control to the point where it affects the music.
“The party gets so crazy that the artists can’t even perform,” Brumbaugh said. “Driving was such a hassle last year … and everyone’s just trying to go completely crazy and it ruins the atmosphere. I probably won’t go this year.”
Carter Eckl, a sophomore studying journalism, said the crowd’s rowdy behavior last year, which included throwing trash onstage during Kendrick Lamar’s performance, really ruins the show from a music lover’s standpoint.
Petrozzi said he wants to limit this kind of behavior and has implemented new initiatives, such as the going green cleanup campaign, which will help eliminate the excess trash. He added that organizers are also raising money for community schools and art programs through ticket sales and donations.
“We’re still figuring out everything with Halftime, so after Oct. 5 we’ll have a better grasp of how it turned out and see if it makes sense to alter things for 12Fest,” Petrozzi said. “We’re not too young as college students to start learning the good deeds that can be done in helping the local community that we love so much that is Athens.”
wh092010@ohiou.edu
@Willbur_Hoffman
