It’s the end of the Spring semester and there are two main things college students have in mind at this time: Coachella and exams. We all know which one we’d prefer to think about, so quit comparing notes and talk about Coachella. Or rather, NC State’s version of Coachella: Wolfstock.

Whether you love it or hate it, it’s still around, and the University Activities Board (UAB) has been struggling to find any good artists since COVID and the loss of Dreamville (RIP). And frankly, this year’s Wolfstock performance doesn’t leave much hope for next year’s.

That’s not to say all of it was bad. So first, let’s talk about the good parts.

The Good

The band, Odd 39, was a pleasant surprise. Composed of four NC state students, the band was the opener for Wolfstock and delivered an incredible performance. They played original songs such as “Stay or Leave” and “Don’t Let me Down,” followed by a cover of “War Pigs” and “Upside Down” written by Jack Johnson, and popularized by Curious George.

In an Instagram post made by Dugout Entertainment, the band stated they take inspiration from other bands like The Backseat Lovers, Peach Pit and Kings of Leon, which you can hear in some of the original songs they performed. In particular, their main vocalist Jay Meland has a similar vocal grit to Joshua Harmon, the lead singer from The Backseat Lovers.

I recommend checking them out as they’re set to perform on April 25 at The Train Yard!

Although I went in blind, I also found myself pleasantly surprised as I enjoyed some of K Camp’s performances. “What’s On Your Mind,” was an ethereal experience. The light fog rolling into the crowd, the yellow lights slowly flashing as though we were at heaven’s gates and the build-up in vocals pulled me into his production.

I didn’t expect to add him to my playlist but here we are.
The only other things I liked were the flower tosses, and I found it a bit sweet when K Camp dedicated some of the songs to the women in the crowd.

And there is where all the good ends. Now let’s get into the bad stuff.

The Bad

It doesn’t come as a surprise that a huge field like Miller Fields turns out to have dead soil. With all the student organization events and field games that go on in Miller Fields, dust quickly polluted the air due to the onslaught of college students.

With how much dust we were kicking up, you’d think we were chinchillas taking a bath. I can still feel the dust particles lodged in my throat days after the event.

Another thing that bogged down the Wolfstock experience were lines. Dear God, the lines. I was walking past the line around 6:20 p.m. and at that point it was creeping into the Carmichael rear parking lot. And by the time I came back ten minutes later after dropping off my stuff at my dorm, we’d reached the forest section of Rocky Branch Trail.

However, we were moving relatively quickly. UAB staff members were checking student IDs by the gates and going down the line which helped streamline the process.

That was until I saw the line for the food truck tickets and Wolfstock merch.

The Ugly

I’m not kidding when I say the line went from a hundred feet from the entrance to the other side of Miller Fields. To say we were moving at a snail’s pace would indicate we were moving at all (which we weren’t).

After an hour or so of waiting in the line and anticipating getting my free food truck ticket, a staff member came down and told us there were only 200 tickets left.

A decent chunk of people left the line, but a few minutes later, the staff member came back and told us there were no more tickets. Promising free food truck tickets and leaving hundreds of college students scrambling for a way to eat when they probably didn’t bring their wallets wasn’t the best way to kick off the event.

That still wasn’t the worst of it.

In the middle of enjoying K Camp’s performance I hear this agitating, grating voice yelling for Yung Gravy. And it’s not just one or two disrespectful people in the crowd – it was a decent amount of white folks.

And as disappointing and exhausting as Wolfstock was, maybe it was the experience NC State deserved. In the words of Abby Lee Miller: You were good, but I’m waiting for you to be great.