Wrex the halls wrecks expectations
With blaring music and superb light shows, local radio station 91x has graced San Diego since 2008 with “Wrex the Halls,” a concert that showcases touring bands to hype-up their new albums, with this December being no exception. In the past, the bands Slightly Stoopid, Rage Against the Machine and The Killers have performed, but this year 91x booked a higher caliber of bands.
This year’s line-up included Queens of the Stone Age, Vampire Weekend, Cage the Elephant, Arctic Monkeys and Alt-J. Although this line-up featured world-renowned bands, attendees expressed their disappointment in 91x’s genre choices.
“There were too many bands on the venue, and I did not like Cage the Elephant,” junior Jacqueline DeSantis said. “It was a bit to much for me. The lead singer, I felt, was more screaming than singing. Also, Vampire Weekend was much better by themselves. They have a more laid-back, beachy vibe, which did not mix with the other bands.”
Although the audience does agree that the show beat last year’s, which hosted M83 and The Killers, it feels that the radio station didn’t take the time to consider the consequences of including too wide of a range of music groups. In order to please all the tastes of the crowd, 91x attempted to book all-around bands. Although this did take away from the show, certain bands made up for the disappointing shows put on by the less experienced, new-age bands.
“Arctic Monkey’s was by far the best in the line-up. They definitely stole the show,” senior Kush Patel said. “But the starting of the show was disappointing. Alt-J sounded radically different from his studio recordings, which discourages me. Some bands are not able to play well live, which ruins the whole block of time between good bands.”
91x has graciously provided San Diego with a yearly event to display bands, but it seems to have lost touch with much of the fan base of Wrex the Halls. It is understandable with the difficulties of booking bands that please everyone, yet it ultimately makes the show less entertaining to music-lovers.
