FredFest 2025 showcases East Campus’s eclectic community
People from across campus rocked to students’ music performances as the night raged on
Jojo Placides
Jojo Placides
On Friday, Oct. 17, East Campus (EC) held FredFest, its annual music festival, from 5 p.m. until midnight. FredFest 2025 is the first to be held in the newly-reopened EC courtyard since the dorm’s closure for renovations between 2023 and 2025, which many residents referred to as “The Great Shuttering.”
Since its establishment by MIT students at the Walker Memorial Basement Radio (WMBR) station in 2008, FredFest has committed itself to showcasing Boston’s local music scene. At its 17th anniversary last Friday, the music festival hosted four bands performing diverse music genres, from alternative and punk rock to jazz and folk.
At the start of the music festival, merchandise booths at the EC courtyard opened to the public, managed by undergraduate volunteers. Attendees made stickers, buttons, murals, shirts, and popsicle stick fortresses. The shirt-making booth — where participants used presses to create shirts — was performer Gabriel Ramirez-Rios ’29’s favorite; he described it as “really cool.”
Four groups of performers played for FredFest: MIT Live, Nina Cranor, Concepts of a Band, and Putz Up!. The latter three hailed from EC. Their set lists and genres reflected EC’s alternative culture, with songs from My Chemical Romance, Radiohead, and Nirvana.
MIT Live opened the music festival, playing lively classic jazz songs like Take Five by Dave Brubeck. Next, EC resident Nina Cranor ’28 performed country songs like “Stick Season” by Noah Kahan, as well as folk-style renditions of several songs like “Pink Pony Club” by Chappell Roan and “Free” from the movie KPop Demon Hunters. Cranor said that it was “fun to perform for a bunch of [her] friends and community.” The energy in the crowd was “infectious” and “all of [her] friends were there cheering and supporting [her]” when she stepped off stage.
After Cranor’s solo performance, Concepts of a Band came up to the stage, consisting of residents from 41West, or the fourth floor of EC’s west parallel. Alien-themed hats, green alien balloons on stage, and alien-themed jokes were all clear indications that the band was extraterrestrial, but what made the performance special was the use of the theremin — an instrument that complemented the heavy metal setlist with an eerie, otherworldly tune. In addition, the band brought out a cat-themed “Meowsic” keyboard.
Concepts of a Band performed songs from alternative rock artists like My Chemical Romance, The Cardigans, and Def Leppard. Though the songs featured dark themes at times, the audience still swayed and jammed on as extraterrestrial tunes and meow-sic melodies filled the EC courtyard’s air.
Concepts of a Band lead singer Malcolm Bolton ’29 recalled that preparing for the concert was fun, but the hardest part was juggling the event with problem sets and band members’ misaligned schedules. Still, Malcolm said that rehearsing and playing for fellow East Campus residents was what made performing at FredFest exciting.
The last band to perform for the night was Putz Up!, a band named after the second floor of EC’s west parallel. The band encouraged the audience to come forward and approach the stage at the start of their performance. As the distance between the audience and the band evaporated, the atmosphere shifted: members of the audience began to form mosh pits under the direction of lead singer Yunseo Ha ’29. That night, the band performed classic punk rock songs like “Teenage Dirtbag,” “Scotty Doesn’t Know,” and “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” once again showcasing EC’s lively alternative culture.
Gabriel Ramirez-Rios ’29, one of Putz Up!’s lead guitarists, said that performing was intimidating at first due to a fear of making mistakes. After playing more songs, however, he gradually realized that his performance was not about being perfect, but rather about “putting out a vibe that the crowd can enjoy.”
The energy during Putz Up!’s performance was especially exciting for Jayleen Perez ’29. She appreciated the crowd control during lead singer Ha’s performance, as it energized the audience and made their performance stand out. Aside from the performances, Perez also praised the event’s organization, citing the ice cream truck and screen printing as examples of how FredFest was “super well organized.”
Looking forward, the bands not only want to perform for FredFest again next year, but also expressed hope for the future of their musical careers. Nico Rios Aricapa ’29, a lead guitarist for Putz Up!, said that the band would definitely be interested given the opportunity to perform in another show.
As for Concepts of a Band, Bolton said the group has been “discussing if there’s interest [in] staying together for future semesters,” and that they’ve been “thinking of other events” they could perform in.
According to ConcertComm member Hannah Tejada ’27, around 400 to 500 people attended the event. ConcertComm is the EC committee that organized FredFest; they’re also considering organizing smaller concerts with these student bands during the year.
Tejada hopes that ConcertComm incorporates more EC talent and increases EC alumni participation. Since this year’s FredFest was combined with EC’s reopening ceremony, it ran longer and had more activities than usual. Most importantly, this was the first time in a while that all the bands were native to MIT — in fact, most were from EC.
People enjoyed the camaraderie they experienced with friends while making shirts and listening to music played by EC-native bands, which they called the crux of the event. Xinlan Tanner ’29 enjoyed “bundling up for music and stories with friends” while listening to the stories of many “older cruft who knew a lot of older lore behind traditions and items in various halls.”
Visitors to EC events often note the intensity of EC culture, from homemade rollercoasters during REX to murals and firespinning year-round. Beneath the intensity, however, lies a tight-knit community reflected in FredFest. “All of these changes made FredFest an event that truly celebrated the East Campus community,” Tejada said.