Local Reno artists bring everybody’s favorite bands from Radiohead to Evanescence back from the dead at the Holland Project’s Halloween Show.
The Holland Project, an all-ages arts, music and performance venue hosted their Halloween show on Oct. 25, where local artists took the stage dressed as 24 famed bands such as Green Day, Gorillaz, Bikini Kill, Weezer, The Strokes and many more.
The sold out event attracted an audience who arrived in costume, ready to belt out their beloved hits. There was a wide array of musicians that comprised the setlist including Negative Association as Bikini Kill, Worm Shot as Weezer, AFTRPRTY as Gorillaz, and many more all based in Reno. The audience enjoyed listening to popular songs from their favorite bands while also supporting the local music scene.
Aside from live music, Reno-based vendors like Hasta La Muerte Tacos, Bread Girl, Gidi’s Kitchen, Biggest Little Bands and Hold Steady Design made an appearance. Event-goers could also get tarot readings, portraits, special effects makeup and face painting.
Freshman University of Nevada, Reno student Isabella Lopez said she attended because, “I love Halloween and I would get to dress up. It’s also nice to listen to the local bands and support them.”
The Holland Project is a popular local venue that routinely hosts concerts, showcases, benefits and more, and always attracts crowds. Freshman UNR student Ellyn Pillers is a longtime attendee of Holland Project events and describes this show, her first Halloween show, as “one of the biggest turnouts for a show I’ve ever personally seen.”
“I’ve never seen crowds for a Holland event that big. Like the Rage Against the Machine, the Evanescence crowd was insane,” she said.
Pillers emphasized the importance of being united and connected to your peers and community. With the Holland Project being an all-ages venue that welcomes everyone, she believes that wide-scale events such as the Halloween show are important to build connection.
“I feel like it gives such a level of community for our students, because there are multiple people that I’ve seen today walking around on campus, that I’ve been like, ‘Yeah, I saw you at that show,” she said.
The Halloween show welcomed returning fans from previous years’, such as senior UNR student Tatum Hanshew. As an intern with the Holland Project, she photographed the show for her volunteer hours, but said she would’ve gone either way because it’s her “favorite event of the year” and that she feels incredibly grateful for the opportunity to document it as a photographer.
“I feel like I grow more and more everyday and the Halloween Show helped me work in an environment that was kind of chaotic,” she said.
However, when it comes to live punk-rock performances, freshman UNR student Isabella Larot reminds fans to exercise caution in a large crowd.
“The biggest problem was that we didn’t know that there was going to be mosh pits until it formed right next to us,” she said. She also said she enjoyed the music from local bands, but faced challenges among the audience as she went with younger people.
“It would’ve been fine if there weren’t smaller children in the crowd who couldn’t move out of the way,” Larot expresses, “like one of my friends’ little brothers who got slammed into,” she continued.
The Holland Halloween Show welcomed bands and fans alike in and out of town as they summoned back not only legendary bands from the dead. Masqueraded audiences danced, sang and moshed along to the music throughout the night. Given the drawbacks of the surplus crowds, attendees enjoyed a night of nostalgic fun.
