Both of the headlining acts of Revelry made the most out of a rough situation. The afternoon rain had given Madison a cold, damp grey hangover from the early-morning Mifflin festivities, and the Orpheum was the least habit- able place for those seeking refuge. Not only was the sound quality questionable close to the stage, which was the only section of the theater where anyone stood, but security made a point of asserting themselves into crowd’s festivities that would have otherwise gone ignored for a bigger show. But that deterred neither the performers nor the crowd.
Hudson Mohawke spun some of his best tracks, including two from the now-legendary TNGHT EP. Even his more trance-infused tracks gave the audience an opportunity to applaud, and he thanked the audience with a beaming smile. All the muddied, quiet bass in the world was incapable of pre- venting show goers from recognizing the first seconds of “Higher Ground,” which sent the crowd into an absolute frenzy.
iLoveMakonnen played exactly the type of set a college campus festival needs: straight bangers. This meant bypassing some of the more experimen- tal R&B tracks from his recent mixtapes in favor of mosh- worthy songs, including iconic tracks like “Look at Wrist” and “Tuesday.” He didn’t have much to say between songs, but neither did the audience; by the time his set rolled around, everyone needed an excuse to thrash their bodies amongst a blissfully igno- rant crowd, and that’s exactly what the Super Chef cooked up.
If Revelry is still serving as a deterrent to Mifflin, it failed on all counts. But as a show for those who felt more at home amongst a musical crowd than a beer-soaked porch, Revelry was a potent concoction of good music and party- ing. If more students catch wind of the event, then the festival’s future looks bright.
