Preview: Halloween Block Party / October 25 / Court Street
By Sarah Weingarten, Contributor
Court Street / Saturday, October 25, 2014
Ohio University is in the midst of fall semester, but that also means that Athens Halloween is right around the corner. Needless to say the Halloween block party is a big deal. Court Street is blocked off by two huge stages. The south stage is at the corner of Union and Court Street, while the north stage is located on the corner of State and Court Street. The night will be filled with 10 musical performances, Manitoa and DJ B-Funk are just two block party veterans that are ready to do it all again.
Manitoa will be hitting up the north stage at 9:30 p.m. and playing songs from their new EP Star Hoppin. Manitoa classifies themselves as tribal earthdance rocktronica. “Our music can be uplifting and dancing or deep and powerful to run the full gamut of emotions. We incorporate live instruments with electronic sounds to fuse together the old world with the new world,” said the band. So expect their set to be super high-energy rock with electronic twists. Basically get ready to dance your ass off.
Dancing with the crowd and alongside Manitoa will be Scarlet Bliss and Ann Love, “Scarlet Bliss will be joining us on stage for her interpretative dance and Ann Love will be hooping and dancing as well.” Halloween, rocktronica and hula hooping rolled into one crazy set.
DJ B-Funk, who runs Dave Rave but is now rebranding himself, will also be playing on the north stage but at 10:45 p.m. This will be DJ B-Funk’s fifth year playing at the block party. Being a seasoned block party DJ has given DJ B-Funk a better insight into gaining a crowd. “Everyone that is going to be [at the block party] aren’t coming to see me. A lot of people are just strolling through Court Street just trying to enjoy their Halloween, so I try and engage and slide people into my set.” It will be hard for people to ignore DJ B-Funk’s set because, along with a brand new set, he’s bringing dancers, glow sticks and other crowd pleasers.
Many students at Ohio University have seen DJ B-Funk play at The Union. DJ B-Funk has developed a fan base in Athens, and they’ll be happy to know that his block party set will be more than devoted to giving this set his all. “The Halloween block party is one of the biggest Halloween block parties around. I want to make sure that when I’m up on stage, people are like, ‘that guy deserves to be up there.’”
Athens’ Halloween block party is something to behold. The population triples for a single weekend, cell service doesn’t work and there’s usually swat teams in training. “Athens is truly a majestic and magical town at the base of the Appalachian foothills,” says Collin from Maintoa and the Halloween block party helps make Athens magical.
Free music starts at the south stage at 6:30 p.m.
