The Athens Halloween Block Party hit a hitch when technical problems plagued the South Stage, forcing the final two acts — Burning River Ramblers and Jones For Revival — to cancel while the North Stage partied on into the early morning.
The generator powering the South Stage on the corner of Court and Union streets failed at about 11 p.m. after a performance from funk-rap group Uptowne Buddha.
“It was ultimately pretty anti-climatic,” said Owen Park, the drummer of the Burning River Ramblers.
Although fans waited for the stage to come back online, eventually they dispersed to find entertainment elsewhere.
Brandon “DJ B-Funk” Thompson, cofounder of electronic group Dave Rave, garnered a great amount of attention for his solo performance as partiers danced in the pit pushing up against the barrier and blocking the flow of traffic throughout the event. On a few occasions, Thompson had to stop the music in order to control the crowd before continuing.
“I think it’s a good performance, but they had to stop it because the stage almost broke,” said Olivia Montgomery, a junior studying criminology. “I just like the atmosphere of the people.”
Saturday also saw a third stage, housed in the parking lot between Attractions Salon, 19 N. Court St., and Lucky’s, 11 N. Court St. The stage played host to the costume contest, sponsored for the second year in a row by Four Loko.
The winner was Andrew Newton, a sophomore studying mechanical engineering, who won for his intricate, expensive War Machine suit from Iron Man. Newton received a $150 cash prize for the contest and said he would use the money to pay for the suit.
A sizeable crowd remained for the electronic dance party throughout the night as local DJs plugged in to provide the beat.
Local rock group Boomslang closed out the night’s live performances with covers of hard-hitting songs such as “Bulls On Parade,” alongside originals. The group has played the festivities in years past as the two-man group Hellnaw but decided to break out a larger group for this special performance.
“I think it was very intricate,” said Haden Lee, a sophomore studying natural history. “They did a very good job. (We) even turned out a mosh pit with very few injuries, which was a success.”
wh092010@ohiou.edu
@Wilbur_Hoffman
— Will Ashton, Emily Bamforth, Rebekah Barnes, Julia Burroughs, Erin Davoran, Meryl Gottlieb, Sophie Mitchem, Anjelica Oswald and Dylan Sams contributed to this report.
