Homerton June Event

Homerton June Event

22nd June 2012, £43

As the biggest name on most people’s May week calendars, Homerton June Event was surrounded by rumour, anticipation and desperate ticket-snatching tactics.

In the queue, the look on everybody’s faces seemed to suggest, ‘will it really live up to all the hype?’

It did.

At a measly £43, I’m fairly sure this was the cheapest ticket going during May Week, which may come as quite a surprise given all the ballyhoo surrounding the event. For this we got a lot of booze, some food, and a little bit of shisha in a makeshift, fairy-lit tent, which appeared to have dubious structural integrity.

Fire juggling didn’t quite compensate for the lack of fireworks, but big crowds gathered – more than I can say for ‘DJ Tim’, as the not-so-inspiring stage name suggests. But I think all will agree that the dean’s acoustic set was the stand-out performance, confirming the rumours that Homerton has the best dean in the university.

The food was fine, with hog roasts being a reliable staple of any event, and cheese and wine adding a rare hint of sophistication. But the queues for crepes were really quite long, which was fairly annoying, given they’re only crepes.

Yes, there were problems. The dependency on balloons gave a distinctively school disco atmosphere. Security was limited. There was no St. John’s Ambulance.

The committee need to know that Cambridge students are going to expect the highest standards given the annual excitement for Homerton’s events. Luckily Homerton’s flagship ‘Mary Allan Building’ detracted from some of the design flaws during the night, being one of the 90s’ architectural masterpieces. Ticketing was also superb.

The major flaw of the night was undoubtedly the theme, Fire And Ice. This seems to have been a problem with many events, such as Pembroke’s pastiche of all things South American . But the committee at Homerton, rather than designing a culturally ignorant mishmash, seemed to forget what the theme was, apparently completely ignoring it. Calling the hog roast ‘sizzling’ and the fajitas ‘fiery’ is a laughable effort, and the blue and silver design theme was incredibly irrelevant.

Ultimately, however, I seldom saw a face that wasn’t contorted by a big fat grin as people squeezed every penny’s worth of enjoyment out of their forty-three pounds. I highly recommend organizing a trip to this or another cheapo option next year, given that you can almost go for the price of a queue-jump at Trinity. Also, being on the Friday, it’s possible to delay those post-May Week blues and go out with a bang.