The Backup Plan performs at the OSU chapter of MEISA’s viewing party of the 1st weekend of the 2012 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival held in Indio, Calif., April 21 at Woody’s Tavern in the Ohio Union.
Credit: Patrick Bailey / Lantern photographer
Ohio State students got to watch Tupac Shakur’s “resurrection” performance at Coachella on big screens.
The OSU chapter of Music and Entertainment Industry Student Association hosted a viewing party of the first weekend of the 2012 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. The music festival is held annually in Indio, Calif.
The first weekend of Coachella took place April 13-15. The viewing party was held Saturday at Woody’s Tavern at the Ohio Union.
“We knew that Coachella, in years past, had streamed the event on YouTube and we were just like, why not just bring the best of Coachella to OSU?” said Sean Doran, a fourth-year in new media and communication technology and director of public relations for MEISA.
Doran said MEISA took an online poll to decide which acts from the festival to feature. Bon Iver, Radiohead, Childish Gambino, Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre were among the winning acts.
Three 35 minute-periods from Coachella played on the screens. In between the three periods, a local band, The Backup Plan, performed live acoustic music for the crowd. It performed original works, as well as covers of songs such as Taio Cruz’s “Dynamite” and Katy Perry’s “E.T.”
The lead singer of The Backup Plan and a fourth-year in mechanical engineering, Jordan Dsouza, said MEISA did a really good job promoting the event.
“For people to be out here this late at night on a Saturday night when a lot is going on, (and it’s also) Spring Quarter, and to have that place packed was awesome,” he said. “I think people not only enjoyed the music, but the setting. It was a very informal atmosphere.”
Zack Cramp, president of MEISA and a fourth-year in marketing, also said Woody’s was a great setting.
“We could have all the music playing on a number of screens with a really nice sound system, which was really important,” he said. “We wanted to kind of create a really nice concert atmosphere.”
He said being at Woody’s also gave the group the option to have food and drinks, which were free for everyone.
Kelsey Dick, a fourth-year in biology, said the event was fun because everyone there was interested in the bands that were performing.
“It was just neat to be with a group of people who appreciate the same things I do,” she said. “I love Radiohead and it was cool to be with other people who appreciate that, too.”
Prizes, such as Coachella shirts, were given out during a raffle halfway through the event.
Max Mauerman, a first-year in political science and journalism, won two tickets to Portugal. The Man.
“I’ve heard of them. I’ve never actually heard any their songs, so I’m not sure if I like them or not, but we’ll see. Hey, (it’s) free tickets,” Mauerman said.
Other ticket prizes included tickets to sold-out Twenty One Pilots April 28 at Newport Music Hall and tickets to the The Shins for June 5 at Lifestyle Communities Pavilion.
Several promotional prize packs for music and entertainment companies were also raffled off thanks to a few of MEISA’s members working for various record labels.
“I work for Warner Music Group,” Cramp said. “Our vice president, A.J. Veleta, works for Sony Music Entertainment and a number other members work for other record labels, promotion companies and things like that. So we had a lot of great give-away items.”
Not only were prizes given away at the raffle, but free stuff was put on display for people to take at their liking, including posters, stickers, bookmarks, key chains and magnets.
Alex Reed, a first-year in food science and nutrition, said the most interesting thing about the event was Shakur’s performance.
“They showed Tupac’s live performance at Coachella and he was a whole hologram and it was really interesting,” she said. “It was cool to see that.”
Almost every person was silent and fixated on the screen during the performance. Some even changed seating to get a better view. After his performance, the liveliness of the room resumed.
At the peak attendance around 11 p.m., about 85 people were inside Woody’s. Cramp said he was happy with the turnout for the event.
“I’m just happy people got it, to be honest,” he said. “It was kind of an obscure event. Some people don’t know what Coachella is. Some people wouldn’t understand the idea of watching Coachella from the Union, but it seems like people got on board with it really nicely.”
MEISA will not be able to host a viewing party for the second weekend of Coachella because it is not being streamed.
