This past Saturday, April 12, JMU students flocked to the Festival lawn for the “Festival @ Festival” sponsored by UPB. The fourth annual Madipalooza was an anticipated event for the freshmen on campus that had yet to experience it, and something many upperclassmen had been looking forward to during the spring semester. The lineup included Ryan Cabrera, Magic Man, Adam Sanders, Mammoth Indigo, Bas, Philosophunk and the local band The Fighting Jamesons. DJ Ryan Clark emceed gaps between performances and switched from the main stage to the local stage.
Fans cheer during Adam Sander’s performance on the main stage at Madipalooza
Also, scattered throughout East Campus were stations serving refreshments and free food while hosting an array of activities including the “Adrenaline Rush Extreme” and airbrush tattoo stations. The highly anticipated Strite’s donut-eating contest and a wing-eating contest were big hits with the crowd, among with the other challenges available. Her Campus talked to festival-goers and stage crew alike to get reactions from this year’s Madipalooza.
Kaleigh Wood, a freshman at JMU this year, was impressed with the event put on by her fellow Dukes.
“Having live bands come to campus on a sunny Saturday afternoon and play for us all was incredible,” Kaleigh said, “My favorite band that played was Mammoth Indigo from Virginia Beach.”
Kaleigh enjoyed the free food and shirts given out, but wished the event had been better advertised.
“It would have been nice to have known more about Madipalooza and had the artist’s information before going rather than just their names a few days before,” Kaleigh said. “But overall Madipalooza was awesome!”
Melissa Bataille is a JMU freshman and a member of UPB’s Center Stage, the organization that works to make Madipalooza possible each year. She expressed her appreciation for all that Center Stage does and said it was, “rewarding to work with artists and hear everyone’s feedback about the event. It reassured me that all of [our] hard work had paid off.”
Melissa did express that she wished they had brought some bigger names to the festival this year, similar to that of Schwayze’s performance at the 2013 Madipalooza.
“I just think the marketing wasn’t as strong this year and we didn’t promote the event as much as we could have. It’s an unforgettable experience as a JMU student and we want as many people as possible to show up and enjoy! I’m really excited to work on next year’s Madipalooza and make it even better,” Melissa said.