Poor turnout at Freshers’ Ball despite popular acts making an appearance

There was a disappointing turnout of just 900 students at the Fresher’s ball last Wednesday despite acts Bressie, The Kanyu Tree and Fox Avenue taking to the stage.

With only 800 tickets sold and 100 students paying €14 in at the door, the Hub was barely half full and seriously lacking in atmosphere.

Speaking on behalf of the DCU Student’s Union, Collie Oliver said they were disappointed with the turnout stating, “I’ve been here for 6 years and I’ve never before seen the Fresher’s Ball not sold out.”

The irony of the pyjama themed event was comical, as several bored students in their bedtime outfits appeared ready to dose off. Despite the poor turnout the music was quite good, and most of the students that attended made the most of the event “availing of the cheap drink offers” to have a good time.

The propaganda DJs were banging out tunes in the Nubar all night and main act’s Bressie, The Kanyu Tree and Fox Avenue gave great performances in the Venue.

Bressie’s new album is currently number 8 in the Irish music charts after one week and speaking to The College View before his performance in the Venue he said, ‘‘I’m happy about it considering who else I’m up against although I don’t really rate position in the chart as success it’s more about your following and turnout at gigs.’’

Since going solo he said he’s been able to branch out in music. ‘‘It’s great because I get to wear my influences on my sleeve, I don’t have to worry about keeping within the “Blizzard’s sound” pop rock guitar.’’

He added, ‘‘There’s one artist I’m working with, it will probably take another 3 years before he’s developed and ready but he is the most talented vocalist I’ve ever met. He currently plays Michael Jackson in a show in the West End. It’s trying to make him not sound like Michael Jackson, that’s the problem.’’

Bressie is currently touring Ireland with Cars love Girls and The Kanyu Tree.
Speaking to The College View last Wednesday, Daniel Cluskey of The Kanyu Tree said “We’re excited, college gigs are always the best, everyone is up for the craic, there’s no negativity.’’

They released their debut album, People Street, two weeks ago after it took a year and a half to edit.

They worked with Ali Shaheed Muhammed, the famous producer and one-third of legendary hip hop group , A Tribe Called Quest.  ‘‘It was great, our management sent him some of our demos and he was very enthusiastic about it, he sent us back some crazy and weird remixes of our stuff we were instantly hyped to work with him!’’

‘‘Ali is a Muslim so we took on his lifestyle while working together, this meant no drinking, eating healthy, no red meat, it was a change and a very pure experience.’’

Fox Avenue said their gig in DCU had been their best in a long time. Dara Quinty said, ‘‘We’re delighted it’s been our best gig in a while, since Oxegen actually. The college crowd is great.’’

Their major influences are Blink 182, Jimmy eat World and The Beatles but they insist that they are ‘‘a straight up pop-rock band, and proud.’’

The band has recently toured with Scouting for Girls. ‘‘We did 6 shows with Scouting for Girls, they’re really mature and relaxed, absolute gentlemen. We also supported 30 seconds to Mars in the O2. Jared Leto is crazy, he came into our dressing room with his whole film crew and gave us a bottle of whiskey, we shared some great discussions together.’’

Second year student Ciaran Martin commented, “Even though there weren’t many people there, I still enjoyed the night, the Propaganda DJs were great.”

The first Toxic Tuesday, along with the Orientation Ball with Calvin Harris last week took a lot of the heat away from the event. Students are now either beginning to settle down and take their college work seriously, or are low on funds after the craziness of the past few weeks.

There were no issues on the night, security were happy, and everyone exited the event on time.

The Students Union are now putting all their efforts into the Halloween Ball, making everything bigger and better. The Halloween Ball will be held in the Academy at the end of October.

The pressure is on.