I hated Rampage last year. It was hot, the music was dreadful, and the crowd was already three sheets to the wind before it even hit 10 p.m. Now, don’t get me wrong, I live to party; so, heat and drunk people don’t bother me. I just couldn’t get past the music. They played 30 seconds of a crowd-pleaser song for every 15 minutes of frat-flicking, EDM nonsense. (Again, don’t get me wrong, I love EDM, but this was just bad.)
Because of how bad last year’s Rampage was, my expectations for this year’s event were low. Lil Jon low.
I arrived on time, with the etiquettical 30-minute buffer, at 9:30 p.m. The first thing I noticed was the lack of people compared to last year. At most, there were 100 people there at a time, all in small groups. At least a third of the crowd was only there for the free Chick-fil-a. Nevertheless, DJs COPE and SoulBoy, were trying their hardest to get the crowd hyped. COPE was definitely doing the heavy lifting in that regard.
As far as the “Intergalactic Disco” theme goes, the decorations exceeded my expectations. The walls were blacked out, creating a kind of underground vibe. There was a ton of silver foil fringe hung up, along with old 45s that were swinging from the ceiling. Program Board students, who helped run the event, handed out foam light sticks that provided the main light source for the night. This was a nice touch; it let the crowd get involved without having to really do anything. Although as people left, the room progressively got dimmer.
Program Board really showed out on the vibe curation this year. They even had a working fog machine for a little bit.
The music evolved throughout the night as COPE and SoulBoy alternated DJ sets. When I got there, it seemed like a joint set between the two. They played a lot of nu-disco/house remixes of contemporary frat hits (think Pitbull, Waka Flocka, etc.), which is sort of what I expected from them, but it was an unassumingly solid set.
The crowd didn’t really match that frat house/house music vibe, though. As the Chick-fil-a seekers started to slowly filter out, the crowd shrank in size but grew in energy. I like to compare it to that TikTok of those Mormon boys who got “soda bar drunk” at a wedding in Utah; the crowd was very awkward and stiff, but they were visibly having fun.
To illustrate my point, I want you to think of the song “Sexy Bitch” by David Guetta and Akon. Now, think of how you would dance to that song. Were you doing the Macarena? No? Well, that was the crowd’s dance of choice when that song played at Rampage.
To the avid partier, this probably seemed lame, but they didn’t care. That’s what made it fun for them. The crowd wasn’t doing any of this new-age ‘aura farming’; they were simply dancing in the way they felt like dancing, which was so refreshing to see.
As the night went on, COPE disappeared for about 30 minutes, and so did the crowd work. SoulBoy continued to DJ, but the quality of the music dropped drastically. The songs became indistinguishable from each other, creating a monotonous hum that people inevitably just talked over. This would’ve worked at an actual rave, but no matter how hard PB tries, Rampage just isn’t one.
Obviously, there were some redeeming moments of the solo set. Charli XCX will always get me hyped, and “Tik Tok” by Ke$ha is a club classic. However, I don’t know if a nu-disco remix of “Mr. Sandman” was the best choice for the moment.
By 10:30 p.m., the crowd had dwindled down to a lowly 50 to 60 people, but the energy was still there. COPE reappeared about 15 minutes later, but people were already starting to leave in droves, including me. Of the little bit I heard of COPE’s second act, the music had already started to improve, and with it, so did the energy of the remaining crowd.
Overall, I had a much better time this year than I did last.
Did it give rave? No. Did it give club? No. Did it give prom? A little. Rampage is its own thing entirely, but that’s part of the appeal.
I would definitely recommend going next year, if they have one, but you have to go into it with this in mind: It’s a rave for people who don’t rave; it’s a club for people who don’t go clubbing; it’s prom for people who didn’t peak in high school. It’s Rampage.
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