SFUO hosts ‘Frost Week’ show featuring ILoveMakonnen and DJ Mustard
Coming back to campus after a relaxing winter break can be a difficult adjustment, and without the excitement of 101 Week offered in the fall semester, it can be hard to get students pumped up for a new semester. Fortunately, the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa (SFUO) had the perfect antidote to beat those winter blues—FROST 2016.
“It’s cool that we have our own ‘Frost Week’ which is sort of equivalent to 101 Week in the winter, and also to welcome back (students) after the break,” said vice-president social of the SFUO, Hadi Wess.
FROST 2016, a concert headlined by ILoveMakonnen and DJ Mustard that took place on Jan. 16, was hosted by the SFUO in collaboration with AVX Live, JUMP! 106.9, Youth Services Bureau of Ottawa, and Carleton University’s Rideau River Residence Association (RRRA).
“This is something that hasn’t happened in awhile, something between the University of Ottawa and Carleton,” said Wess. “One of my platform points was to open that kind of communication between campuses, because at the end of the day we’re all students, we all serve as a student body, as a student government, we all serve the same cause, and one of our big causes that we care for is entertaining students.”
The show sold out of online tickets hours before the event itself and took place at the Aberdeen Pavilion in Lansdowne Park. The concert also had a philanthropic aspect, with a portion of the ticket sales going to the Youth Services Bureau of Ottawa, a non-profit social service agency.
Although the opening acts, Iggy Smalls and Foster, drew smaller crowds, the energy turned up when ILoveMakonnen took the stage around 10 p.m. Playing his hits like “I Don’t Sell Molly No More” and the Drake-featured “Tuesday”, ILoveMakonnen had fans jumping, dancing, and singing along. The artist said goodbye by telling the crowd to “keep turnin’ up” as they waited for DJ Mustard to take the stage.
DJ Mustard, a famed west coast producer who has worked with everyone from Kanye West to Young Jeezy, spun mega-hits like YG’s “My N*gga”, which he produced, and The Weeknd’s “Can’t Feel My Face”. The DJ kept the energy in the venue high over his entire set, occasionally talking to the crowd during song transitions.
Wess said collaborating with other organizations helped them draw in bigger names for Frost 2016. If putting aside our rivalry guarantees concerts with big names, I suppose we can make a truce with Carleton University students a few times a year. Only for the love of the music, of course.
