Dawns Fai

Didrik kindly fashioning my Dawns Fai ticket 

Dawns Fai (May Ball), essentially a big farewell kind of student party hosted in the village of Pontrhydfendigaid, is fast approaching and I have bought my ticket. The ticket is £40, but what does it cover? Is it worth £40? I will be answering these questions, but bear in mind that I am completely sober and have not actually been to May Ball before, so I'm pretty much guessing how my experience will pan out.


The Aberystwyth Student Union has this to say about the event:
"Here it is - our biggest line up ever with 5 big name acts on the main stage plus the comedy zone, tribute tent, headphone disco & chill out marquees, fairground and much much more..."
Let's take this bit by bit, shall we?


Main Stage - '5 Big Name Acts'
Zane Lowe, The Hoosiers, Roll Deep, Ms. Dynamite & Toploader.
Someone needs to help the students' union define "big name acts" as NONE of these five are 'big names', not currently at least. I have never heard of Zane Lowe before the union announced his participation and the other 4 acts have peaked. The 'Big Name Acts' are not big name acts and, for me, are a major let down, I even very briefly considered not going again this year based on this but, as I'll explain later, there are much better things to do at May Ball.
Worth £40? No. None of them come close to that value.


Comedy Zone
John Robins, Horse & Louis, Jared Hardy, Tommy Rowson & Ben Van Der Velde.
No familiar names for me there, but that's not a bad thing! Aspiring comedians have to be given a chance and, seeing as I don't know any of the acts or their material, it would be unfair to pre-judge them. The Comedy Zone probably won't be a high priority for me but I wouldn't complain abut going.
Worth £40? Doubtful, would you pay that much for a handful of unknown comedians? But I could be pleasantly surprised...


Tribute Tent
As the title suggests, tribute acts have a place in May Ball, so who do we have this year?
The Fillers, 182 - A Tribute to Blink, The Rinky Dinks & DJ Jinx
I am a Killers fan so The Fillers might be worth seeing, I am not totally adverse to listening to Blink 182 so perhaps that won't be bad either. The Rinky Dinks apparently cover a myriad of artists with a twist ranging from rock (fair enough) to ska (good God, no!). DJ Jinx will be playing tracks between the other acts and is not a tribute act. He has DJ'ed at a couple of Student Union events before which I've heard and liked. This tent seems as though it won't be a total disappointment. 
Worth £40? It's definitely worth more than the Main Stage.


Headphone Disco
LOVE a good headphone disco, they are SO much fun! Usually two DJs performing at once and, equipped with headphones, disco-goers have the choice of switching channels, between DJs. It is so brilliant to remove your headphones for a second and hear half the room singing one thing and other half something else, and the dancing is also just fantastic! I remember at the Union's last headphone disco that one DJ told his listeners to get on the floor and stay there. I seemed to be one of the very few people not on that channel as I discovered on my way to the bar. I was listening to some pop song and when I turned around, everyone was on the floor and I had no idea why. Brilliant!
Worth £40? On its own, no, of course not! But there is no way I'm missing out on a headphone disco!


Other
"...we have free to ride FULL SIZE FAIRGROUND including dodgems, waltzers, bench ride and traditional stalls.
The CHILL OUT MARQUEE features the return of the OXYGEN BAR and also includes FISH PEDICURE tanks, WALK ABOUT MAGICIAN along the with the cosy bean bag area to take a load off!
For the thrill seekers, the 200ft BUNGEE CRANE awaits all those that want to take the plunge!
Along with the half a dozen bars there will also be the champagne bar, food court, official photo studio, novelty acts and much, much more."
Fairground - cool; chill out marquee - not for me but still pretty cool; walk about magician - sigh; bungee crane - never, ever, ever; champagne bar - hell yes!


All in all, I would (and have) paid £40 for a ticket and I am looking forward to it and I think the thing that is meant to be the most attractive about the event is by far its least attractive element. Ah well, with all the alcohol and other distractions involved, why let poorly chosen acts ruin what could be an otherwise great night?


I shall, of course, write a new post after the event, probably to take back all of the negatives I've mentioned above x