If you were anywhere near the Keene State College campus on this past weekend, you may have been met by the sound of live rock music.
On Saturday, Oct. 14, KSC held their second annual Rocktoberfest on Oya Hill. The event showcased several of the college’s talented music groups such as Gray Haven, Rubber, Burr, Afterimage, Beautiful Girls Club and Wicked Thirsty. In addition to an afternoon filled with music, a number of organizations around campus had set up tables that concert-goers could visit.
The concert was put together by the Social Activities Council. Rachel Graves, the event coordinator, went into detail about what it was like planning the event, like getting judges, making sure at least one member of each band was a KSC student and even setting up the stage on the day of the event.
“A lot went into planning this event,” Graves said.
Benajil Rai / Equinox Staff
All of that hard work paid off with the positive outcome of a successful event. One of the many satisfied students at the event was first year Paige Mickiewicz.
“It’s a lot of fun. I love the atmosphere. It’s a beautiful day. Great food, great people, great music. I can’t complain.”
Also commenting that the event was very well-advised around campus, Mickiewicz said, “There were posters everywhere, and I read them. Then I came here.”
While the event showcased past Rocktoberfest participants, such as Gray Haven, who kicked off the show, the concert also was able to shine a spotlight on Keene’s up and coming groups, one of these bands being Wicked Thirsty. KSC first-year and drummer of Wicked Thirsty Sebastian Smith spoke about his band and how long they have been playing music together for.
“Our name is Wicked Thirsty. It’s two of us, just me and my friend Zeb. He’s guitar, I’m drums and he sings also. We’ve been playing since freshmen year of high school.”
Despite creating music together for about four years now, this was the group’s first time playing at Rocktoberfest. Smith went on to describe the experience of playing an event like this.
“It was a pretty high energy show for the other sets that we played before. Yeah, I thought it was a great time. It felt fantastic,” Smith explained.
Although the group had never played at Rocktoberfest before, Smith expressed that it was not hard to get involved in the event.
“We played a show in Brattleboro, and actually while we were doing that and getting ready for it I found a poster in Morrison Hall about Rocktoberfest. So I contacted Rachel Graves, the person who coordinated this whole thing, and it just went from there really.”
Wicked Thirsty’s other band member Zebulon Hildreth does not attend KSC, but they were still eligible to play because of Smith’s enrollment.
Once again, the Social Activities Council put together a Rocktoberfest that left many people smiling and satisfied after a great day of music. With the creation of the event last year, there is hope that the tradition continues for many years to come.
Erin McNemar can be contacted at emcnemar@kscequinox.com
