Roughly 600 Occidental students flooded the upper soccer field Oct. 19 for FallFest, an annual concert that brings musicians to campus, according to KOXY station manager Jaishri Vidyarthi (senior). The event featured DJ sets by Kreayshawn, Alex Chapman and DJ Mandy, a live performance by Ve’ondre and a drag segment by Sweet Tea. Although FallFest is an Occidental tradition, last year, the school held the event on a smaller scale than usual in an effort to save money, meaning this year’s concert was the first time both first-years and sophomores got to properly experience the custom.
According to KOXY staff member Molly Malin (sophomore), booking FallFest has been the role of Oxy Programming Board in past years. Programming Board was formerly a division of Associated Students of Occidental College (ASOC), but Malin said that this year, it has become a branch of KOXY.
“In the end, we decided it would make more sense to have everything [music-related] under the same umbrella,” Malin said. “Now we’re working together, and it helps us to have bigger events and a stronger team.”
Vidyarthi said that KOXY partnered with Subculture Party, which puts on monthly raves around LA, to book this year’s FallFest.
“[Subculture] had a lot of connections with artists that were more underground, and we were able to use their credibility to book some cool artists,” Vidyarthi said.
KOXY Programming Director Keita Yamamoto (senior) said he was excited about DJs coming to campus, a big contrast to last year’s FallFest, which featured local indie artists. According to Yamamoto, the venue also changed; in 2023, FallFest was held on the quad and set up by KOXY, while this year, Subculture set up a massive stage on the upper soccer field.
“I honestly just want to see live music here at the end of the day,” Yamamoto said. “Hopefully everyone’s as willing to dance as I am.”
According to Vidyarthi, FallFest is an important part of Occidental culture.
“I know coming in as a first year can just be hard, moving to a new place and stuff, so I think FallFest is a really great time for the community to come together and have a good time and just support one another through enjoying live music,” Vidyarthi said.
Vidyarthi said that since the last true FallFest was two years ago, the KOXY team wanted to make sure to bring artists to campus that a wide variety of students would enjoy.
“We wanted to bring back FallFest and really honor the high-energy environment that it’s supposed to be,” Vidyarthi said.
Alex Chapman, one of the DJs who performed, said he appreciated the crowd’s energy and had a lot of fun.
“When I was in college, I loved going to shows so much and learned about a lot of acts that way,” Chapman said. “It’s really fun to see that people still have that same kind of enthusiasm.”
During Chapman’s performance, he called a few Occidental students up on stage to dance. Jeancarlos Perez Lemus (sophomore) was one of these students. Perez Lemus said that getting up on stage during the event was a spur-of-the-moment decision, prompted by Chapman’s request for dancers during his set. Perez Lemus said he went up with a fellow Occidental College Dance Production dancer.
“We started dancing and freestyling, doing what we love to do […] dancing on stage at Occidental is nothing new to us,” Perez Lemus said.
Perez Lemus said that seeing peers on stage energized the crowd, but despite encouragement from Chapman and fellow students, KOXY asked him and his friend to leave the stage due to safety concerns.
“At the end of the day, you can clearly tell that we’re Occidental students,” Perez Lemus said. “We’re not trying to create chaos or anything.”
Perez Lemus said that he still had an amazing experience at FallFest, comparing the show to a Coachella set because of its outside stage, high energy and big names performing. Perez Lemus said he was excited to see Ve’ondre on stage, having attended past shows of hers.
“It’s amazing to see the outer community of Los Angeles come to our campus, because I feel like sometimes we are living in this bubble,” Perez Lemus said.
Perez Lemus said that he thinks it is great that FallFest gives students the opportunity to meet professional entertainers on campus, especially because of the large number of students hoping to go into music production and the entertainment industry.
Chapman said that shows like FallFest inspire students.
“I know that when I went to school, these type of shows, especially for me, helped me see what I wanted to do on stage and see people kind of do it in different ways,” Chapman said.
Contact Eli Heringman at heringman@oxy.edu
