Once a semester, the bravest of musical souls shed their chains and revolt against the oppressive capitalist campus music scene, establishing a new world order. Something like that. This weekend was that weekend. Musicians united, outfits formed, and the jams were pumped in front of an excited Eclectic crowd during Awesomefest’s triumphant return. For the premium price of six cents per band, concertgoers were treated to 32 fresh ensembles sharing two stages in a total of five hours of the latest grooves and beats the campus music scene has to offer.

The event sported some of the most creative outfit nomenclature to hit campus in years, with groups like Mountain Barber Quartet sharing a stage with Red Hot Chubby Chasers and Smacky Brown. Each performance consisted of a 10 minute set; groups were scattered all over the musical genre map, from jazz-infused hip-hop to ear-shattering, fist-pumping scuzz-rock. Despite the diverse aural cornucopia, each performing group shared a common goal: to secure their spot in the annals of Awesomefest history. And win a pizza.

Dylan Bostick ’13 was hugely instrumental in the event in a few ways. Bostick continued his duties from last year as chief producer and organizer of the whole event, in addition to trying his hand in a couple of cleverly named bands, namely, Thirsty and Protein Stains. With the easy setup in place, Bostick succinctly categorized the event as awesome. It’s a no-brainer, though: any time an event features a collection of musicians united under a moniker like “Goatmeal,” there should be unprecedented amounts of awesome present.

“It’s a really fun event that usually gets students to start bands and helps keep Wesleyan’s music scene lively,” Bostick said. “It’s also just fun.”

The chief goal of Awesomefest is to expand and amplify everything weird and good about the party music scene, and there was no shortage of that this Saturday.

Through the eyes of a first-time performer, Dylan “The Yellow Dart” Nelson ’15 of the recently conceived White Liars, Awesomefest allows musicians to mix and match it up by crossfading musical preferences and scrapping together setlists in a limited time window. For a seasoned live performer, it’s the perfect opportunity to start testing the waters of Wesleyan’s deep musical lagoon.

D-Nellz the Funk Troubadour shared his excitement for the craziness of it all.

“Well, I guess it’s a little slapdash, kinda hectic,” Nelson said. “You really just have to plug in, turn your amps on, and play.”

For Nelson and all other performing artists, their reward was just that—performing. There was no winner crowned at this year’s event. According to Bostick, this was simply due to the fact that the judges could not be located after the show to the disappointment of the 32 vying bands, the Eclectic crowd, and the one guy wearing a horse mask.

But on occasion like this, where we come together to celebrate and witness the creation of music, does anyone really lose? There is something about this festival that draws awe from all of us. There’s a certain magic about it that transcends all the titles and pizzas of the world. Any one of these 32 bands may have stumbled upon something golden just because they thought this would be a fun Saturday night activity. We potentially witnessed that genesis, meaning that everyone won on all accounts. Even you, dancing horse-head guy, even you.