By
Maggie Burnett
Arizona Daily Wildcat
CatFest once again plagued by rain
For the second time in three years, Wildcat Welcome's CatFest was cut short due to threatening weather.
CatFest is an annual ASUA-sponsored event that is the culmination of a 10-day long Wildcat Welcome week created to orient new students to campus life.
The popular punk band Blink 182 was to perform a free concert on the mall in 1998 when monsoon weather caused the sudden cancellation of the show.
This year, Rising Star brought Sister Hazel to campus, hoping not to repeat the rainy scenario from two years ago. However, seasonal storms and heavy lightening caused the temporary cancellation of the concert.
"Sister Hazel played around five songs before the storm rolled in," said Rising Star staff member J.J. Kruglick. "We put them under a tent because CatFest was rained out when Blink was here."
Kruglick said the band played their hit song "All For You" and then called the show while waiting for the storm to blow over.
"The band was really great, although it sucked they had to stop early. It was pretty awesome," chemical engineering sophomore Shara Sparks said.
Stephanie Albright, an art history and English literature junior who was on the planning committee, said Sister Hazel regretted having to stop the show.
"They described themselves as a college band. They felt bad about having to end the show," she said.
When it became evident that the rain would not let up, Sister Hazel decided to do an acoustic set in the Arizona Ballroom of the Memorial Student Union.
Albright estimated that 500 people were in attendance in the Ballroom, a significant drop from the number who were present at the outdoor show.
"We judged that half the crowd had left (after the move indoors)," Albright said.
"We brought the band in there through the back, and everyone sat on the floor. They just played without microphone, kind of like VH1 'Storytellers,'" Kruglick said. "They played 'All For You' again and the audience loved it. It was really good actually."
Albright said that the students in attendance thought the show was "awesome."
"Students were shushing each other. It was just silent in there," Albright said.
The band also enjoyed the more intimate setting of the indoor venue.
"They said they always used to do live acoustic sets (when first starting out), and they were excited to get back to that," Albright said.
Albright said the indoor set lasted from thirty to forty-five minutes, with the band playing six songs. She said that the band was joking with the crowd and taking requests, even performing their more popular songs more than once.
According to Kruglick, the band stayed in the ballroom after the concert to sign a few autographs before leaving at 9 p.m. to catch their flight.
"I thought the show was great. I'm no big Sister Hazel fan but they seemed really pumped," said Josh Baker, a biochemistry senior. "They were interested in the crowd and that was very cool."
