John Dykstra ’13 – Wabash’s social life boomed Saturday with Oktoberfest and this fall’s National Act.
The German Club celebrated Oktoberfest and provided a welcoming environment for parents’ weekend. Asher Roth and Mike Posner were a good National Act, despite some calling Posner’s performance subpar.
For Oktoberfest, the German Club brought in vendors for German beers and cooked German sausages on the Mall. With parents’ weekend taking place, the festival served Saturday’s series of events in a subtle manner.
See Drew Casey ’12 photos form Octoberfest here.
There was a beer garden located in front of Sparks Center. Members of the Sphinx Club administered drinking cups and wristbands, while keeping a watchful eye on IDs. Living units did not have to purchase cups this year unlike in previous years. Money for cups was taken out of student activity fees.
The nail hammering competition challenged the depth perception of festival attendees. Contest participants had to hammer a four-inch nail into a log. The humor was evident as some participants had difficulty in making contact with the nail.
Wabash had yet another spin-off of the festival by selling t-shirts. The t-shirts showed Wabash’s tongue-in-cheek humor by emphasizing that Wabash “Does [the sausage fest] best.”
National Act took place a few hours after Oktoberfest. Compared to Lupe Fiasco’s performance last semester, Asher Roth and Mike Posner were not as great but still decent.
Roth opened with his electrifying onstage presence. He began his set by boasting about Wabash’s 47-0 win over DePauw in last year’s Monon Bell game. However, some students were bittersweet about said comment. Roth performed at DePauw in 2009 and criticized Wabash. Needless to say, the students’ initial reaction to him represents how much pride they have in Wabash.
See Casey’s photos from concert here and here.
As the show went on, Roth became more lively by bringing students and women out of the crowd. He had a student perform one of his songs with him on stage. In the midst of another one of his songs, he and the rest of the band did a breakdown of “Jump on It,” which was rather humorous. Prior to his closing song “I Love College,” he had women parade onto the stage. In that regard, he served as a rake character, unveiling the “college” personality of some of the women on stage.
Roth was embraced by the crowd at the end of his performance by crowd surfing. He attended a party hosted a Sigma Chi later that evening.
Posner was the final act of the night. Compared to Roth, his performance was subpar. His mellow voice and tunes did not have the same energy as Roth’s grungy, college kid anthems had. However, the light show during his performance was unbelievable.
While concluding his performance, Posner signed a Wabash basketball jersey and tossed it out to the crowd.
In terms of music, Roth certainly had more talent and a better onstage presence than Posner. But, tastes in music vary by person.
A typical weekend at Wabash helps students relinquish the burdens of a week of intense studying and homework. The Wabash community seemed to enjoy the opportunity to experience German culture and catch an alright concert.
