By Luc Anderson
Staff Writer
The world’s first ever running music festival, Night Nation, happened on Saturday, October 24th in Los Angeles. The run/concert happened inside of the Stubhub Center at Carson. The running portion of the event took place outside and inside the stadium.
The run was not very amazing, plagued with mediocre and soft music, average food, and an overall boring experience. In addition the overcrowded stages made listening to the music quite uncomfortable, and very hot even though it was outside.
The Night Nation filled the running with plenty of lights, EDM (Electro Dance Music), and dancing. The racecourse brings the runner to multiple DJ stages, and ends at the celebratory final stage where the rest of the night will be spent listening to live DJ’s perform.
The music that was played was very quiet, and at certain parts it seemed as if one could hear other voices over the sound of the music. This was quite bothersome since the purpose of the event was to listen to music, not other people talking. This also made the music portion of the night very aggravating, and lessened the overall amusement.
At the start of the race all runners were given a Night Nation shirt, and a race number. Throughout the night there were giveaways that consisted of light up glasses, light up foam sticks, and some other useless items. These giveaways ended up making the night more enjoyable, and helped to keep everyone involved.
There were many vendors inside of the stadium. The food being served was disgusting, and extremely over priced. Water was given out for free throughout the night, and other beverages could be purchased for upwards of six dollars, which did take away from the overall experience of the night, but it was really not that large of a nuisance.
The run, for the most part, was very easy going as no one was actually required to run. Most contestants decided to walk and dance throughout the course, but a few took the challenge of running the entire thing. The run was extremely casual making it much more enjoyable, this was great since it meant no one was forced to go any certain pace.
Crossing the finish line was nothing special, but seeing everyone in their neon and glow in the dark accessories through the race made up for this, since it provided entertainment getting to see them. People wore things like glow in the dark tutus, shirts, pants, necklaces, and a multitude of other things. Everyone’s creative outfits made this part of the night much more captivating, and greatly benefited the overall experience since in a way it was almost like watching a costume contest of some sort.
During the race runners ran through multiple stages with live DJ’s performing. The DJ’s were mostly entertaining, and played average music. These stages were meant to be rest stops, and therefore were nowhere near as good as the main stage. The main stage was the highlight of the night, since this is where the best music was played, but still really wasn’t anything too special.
The whole of experience of the Night Nation Run was mundane, and was dissatisfying overall due to a multitude of things, like quiet music, overcrowded stages, and terrible giveaways.
All in all the Night Nation Run had some major flaws, that will hopefully be worked out by the next one. Tickets are 30 dollars, and the run will be returning to Los Angeles on July 6th, 2016 at Stubhub Center.
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