by John Downey '23 on March 3, 2022
A&E Co-Editor
Arts & Entertainment
Jack Downey ’23
When BOP and WDOM unveiled their joint event, a “silent disco” at McPhail’s, Providence College students’ confusion was evident. Not many people knew what a silent disco entailed. This mystery, however, built excitement for the event. As the date of the disco, Feb. 25, drew closer, students’ anticipation was palpable. Nonetheless, the question remained: how much of this intrigue would turn into attendance?
It turns out that a lot of it would. One look into McPhail’s during the course of the disco provided quite a spectacular sight: a crowd of people adorned with large, brightly-colored headphones dancing and singing to music that only they could hear. Aside from the sounds of shoes sliding on the floor and the excited murmur of voices, the event lived up to its name, as music could not be heard outside of the event.
The light show on display added a lot to the event. Along with the multicolored headphones that attendees wore, the disco also featured blinking glasses, light-up rings, and lasers that moved along the ceiling and walls. Overall, the visuals harkened back to the days of middle school parties, conjuring images of a bunch of tweens running around in a school gym to the sounds of Avicii and Katy Perry as rainbow colored lights flashed in all directions. Indeed, the event certainly brought on a feeling of nostalgia.
There is no way anyone can write about a silent disco, however, without mentioning the music. One of the coolest parts of the event was a function on the headphones that allowed users to switch channels. Three different computers broadcast music at once, and those in attendance could move a switch to essentially turn the dial to another song whenever they felt like it. As a result, there was a variety of dancing going on at once, which made the event even more entertaining to witness. People enjoyed themselves with a variety of rap, hip-hop, alt rock, and pop tunes as the night progressed.
However, at certain points, DJ Kieran Kraus ’23 silenced the various channels in order to get everyone to listen to the same song. These tracks were typically ones with some type of dance associated with them, including “Cupid Shuffle” by Cupid, “Cotton-Eyed Joe” by Rednex, “Party Rock Anthem” by LMFAO, and “Crank That (Soulja Boy)” by Soulja Boy. This move turned out to be immensely successful, as the crowd all began doing the dances in unison. “Cupid Shuffle,” in particular, proved to be an amazing scene, as people slid to the left and right in sync as if choreographed. During moments like these, the night was elevated to another level.
By the time the silent disco began winding down, people clearly had no regrets in attending. Many of those who participated could be heard saying “this was a lot more fun than I expected it to be,” and “that was a really great time!” The public praise was especially meaningful because it showed that new and unique events, such as the silent disco, can work. WDOM and BOP are to be commended for breaking ground here, and, hopefully, new and unique ideas continue to make musical magic happen here at PC.