The carnival’s back in town!

Over the past weekend Blue and Gold Week started, and of course, there was a carnival just like last year. However, instead of a comedy show, the entertainment division of ERAU (called Touch-N-Go) decided to host a music festival called Eaglepalooza. It featured four national artists , Social House, Chase Bryant, and Desiigner) and three local bands (DJ Hot Fiya, SPF 50, and Paper Doors) and took place simultaneously with the carnival.

The carnival started at 2 PM, but I ended up getting there around 3. The disadvantage of going to the carnival during the daytime is that it was extremely hot. They had a couple of different rides than last year, so I went on the new ones before heading inside for a Starbucks.

After that, I decided to go see Social House playing on the main stage. I sat in the shade of the fitness center, which is where most people were, but a few dedicated people chose to be up front near the stage. I was relaxed enough in the shade, but eventually got hungry and went back to my apartment for dinner.

I came back to the concert around 7:15 just in time for the final local act, Paper Doors, to perform on the second stage. By then the day had cooled off and the sun was setting, so a lot more people had come out to watch. Paper Doors is also a pretty popular band- they’ve played various shows around Daytona and the surrounding area- and the turnout is usually good.

I was close to the front and noticed that a few people had decided to watch from the Starbucks balcony. It was much less crowded than the area in front of the stage, but still cool to see. Paper Doors played for almost an hour and did a song with another local artist, Ani, and everyone was having a great time.

After that, there was a 15-minute break before people piled in to go watch the final concert of the night, Desiigner. It was definitely an experience- there were rows and rows of people, and to me it looked like the most popular concert.

When Desiigner came on, his microphone was turned down a little too low, so people were yelling and trying to tell him that we couldn’t hear. There were some people around me who were holding up their phones with a sign, but it ended up being backwards and saying “hear can’t we” instead of “we can’t hear.” Eventually word reached the front of the stage (where I assume everyone could hear perfectly well) and the volume was cranked up.

The concert was super fun but really loud, so I was glad that I brought earplugs. I could feel the sound from the giant speakers and can only imagine what people directly under the speakers were feeling. I love the events that Touch-N-Go puts on and I’m excited to see what will happen next. In the meantime, I’ll see you in the next post… and hopefully at Riddle!