Assignment 3: Cultural Event Report
Blaine Medvec
Ray Otto
World Cultures I
September 7th, 2012

The event I was at was a music concert located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania called Sublime with Rome. My cousin wanted to go see one of his favorite bands called Cypress Hill. Also other bands known as Sublime and Pepper were to be attending the event. The location where it was exactly located is known as Stage AE or Stage American Eagle. Now I have been to many different concerts before but they were usually local bands in an indoor place with about 100-300 people. This one in particular was outdoor and over 5000 people. I went with my cousin, his friend and his girlfriend. Everybody except for me lived in Pittsburgh so they were more aware of what was to be expected than I was. I live about an hour away from Pittsburgh so it took us awhile to meet up with everyone as he came to pick me up. When we finally arrived in Pittsburgh, we were getting a hotel that night so we went there first. Once we checked in we waited for our friends to arrive.
After about an hour of waiting, our friends Tom and Caitlin showed up. We then made our way over to the concert. When I arrived at the event I thought it would be a lot of fun. The people gathered around the stage were excited and anticipating the show. I proceeded to get some food and drink before as I knew I would probably be getting no time to leave as it would only get more and more crowded. Once we got our spot in the crowd, we simply waited and discussed among ourselves and others around us the excitement of seeing the show.
After about 35 minutes of waiting the band Pepper came on the stage and gave a loud yell, “Are you ready for tonight?!” As the crowd shouted back a positive response, he yelled again, “I can’t hear you!” The crowd got louder this time. Once the positive reinforcement became apparent, the band started playing their tunes. I didn’t know of this band all that much so I just went along with it awaiting Cypress Hill who I really knew most about (my cousin showed me a lot of their music before the event). The lead singer from Pepper really had a lot of energy and was a great performer. I thought the performance was a great introduction to the scene as far as pumping up the crowd and getting them really excited. I didn’t know the lyrics or any of the songs they played but it definitely got me energized for the band I was anticipating.
Next band to perform was Cypress Hill. The guys behind the stage brought out a giant mural of the name of the band so I knew what was about to come. Instead of it being a rock band like Pepper it was primarily a DJ and two lead singer/rap artists. It started off similar to the last group except it just seemed louder. In this performance, it was about the same energy level but you could sense more familiarity with crowd interest. I knew I wasn’t alone when I noticed this. In fact it makes the experience more fun when you can sing a song along with the group and others are chanting it with you. Sublime was the last group to play and even though it seemed more extravagant with it being at night time and the lights illuminated, I still enjoyed Cypress Hill the most. I understood Sublime and knew a lot of their music. However, they sounded distorted and I couldn’t really understand the words as much.
Overall, I really enjoyed my time there. It was a lot of fun and I would do something like that again sometime. At first I was somewhat new to the place and didn’t know where anything was. When I left I had a very good idea how everything worked, where to buy food and drink, and where the restrooms were. If someone had never been to an event like this, I would highly recommend it especially if you are looking for a fun filled evening to enjoy music as long as it is in your preference or genre of interest. It is a great activity.