Bands rock in the night air

As the day of Sweetwater faded into night, so did the smell of funnel cakes, cotton candy and BBQ.

The Blackout Farmers, Bomb Chewey and Robert Randolph and the Family Band were the entertainment line up for the night.
Bomb Chewey was certainly a crowd favorite getting many students and community members involved in their music. Sophomore Tori Price said they were her favorite show of the night.

“Bomb Chewey was awesome, the atmosphere was really fun, I’ve never seen Milledgeville like this,” Price said.

Bomb Chewey played an upbeat show that many of the audience participated in, adding their own choreography and soundtracks. The drummer, Jon Joiner, heads up most of the band’s management.

“Sweetwater is such a great festival, we are just honored to be chosen to play here,” Joiner said.

Originating in Milledgeville, the band is still young, but they are already getting their name out. Sweetwater was a great way for them to do that.

“That was the biggest crowd we’d ever played for,” Joiner said. “We just went out there and had fun.”

The crowd had fun with Bomb Chewey too, with many praising their style and musicality from the start. One of these is GCSU alumnus Ryan Moskal.

“This is my fifth Sweetwater and this year by far has the best bands,” Moskal said.

Not everyone, however, was a fan of Milledgeville Mainstreet’s choice of music. Some, like junior Joe Rawls, did not have the positive comments that Moskal had about the bands.

“Sweetwater is amazing, the bands aren’t,” Rawls said. “They’re good, but not great.”

Along with the entertainment of the night, many GCSU students just enjoyed the company of their friends. Senior Lauren King loved the whole atmosphere of the festival.

“Everybody here is great, the entertainment is wonderful and security is doing a great job,” King said.

Security was praised on many occasions for supporting the festival and seeing that everything went according to plans.
“Even the cops aren’t bad tonight, apparently they just want to have fun at Sweetwater too,” Rawls said.

Tori Allen, a gate monitor working the night’s entertainment, was enjoying herself and praising the cooperation of everyone in attendance.

“Sweetwater has been awesome today, everything has run smoothly, we haven’t had any problems so far,” Allen said.

Lindsey Hornsby, Milledgeville Mainstreet’s interim director, was pleased with the success of the festival.

“Downtown merchants’ profits are typically over 200 percent of what’s normal on the weekend of the Sweetwater Festival,” Hornsby said.

By the time Robert Randolph was ready to play, the crowd was packed like sardines in front of the stage and poured into the street behind. As drinks passed over the tables as fast at the beer could pour into the cups, the money was piling up at the Miller Lite booth.

Many students experienced this and employed this opportunity as entertainment. Sophomore Zach Gilbert was one of these students.

“Watching the drunk people trip over the curbs by far is the best thing about Sweetwater,” Gilbert said. “That’s why we chose to stand by this big one!”

The majority of students have nothing but praises to speak about the festival this year. GCSU student Michael Agee thinks that Sweetwater and the bands should “be here every weekend.”
Sweetwater was a crowd pleaser again this year and GCSU student Jack Semones is glad he chose to spend his weekend in Milledgeville.

“Everything is incredible,” Semons said. “My favorite part was being with friends; all around it was great.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Oct 31 2008. Filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry