If you go to Northwestern, you attend Dillow. Once a year, more than 12,000 attendees converge to laugh, dance, and sing along to live performances at Dillow Day, the largest student-run music festival in the country. The wait is almost over. From the Dilly Northwestern, I'm Madison Bradley.
This is Digital Diaries, a weekly podcast following the college experience and asking students questions about life at Northwestern. This year's space-themed Dillow Day lands on Saturday, May 20th. This week Northwestern students share their experiences from previous Dillow days and how they will navigate this year's takeoff. I went to Dillow last year for one to be with my friends for the experience, but also I actually liked a lot of the artists that they had.
That was Weinberg sophomore Sophia Surna. Surna said one of her favorite artists in the 2022 Dillow Day lineup was Sean Kingston. Kingston is known for his hits like Beautiful Girls and Fire Burning. It was absolutely packed.
It was still right out and just kind of like the music that he makes, it's like very upbeat, fun, everyone knows the words. Dillow Day 2022 began at 12.30 p.m. after a rain delay. The nighttime headliner was Dominic Feig, who performed in the evening from around 9.15 to 10.15 p.m.
That means the festival lasted about 10 hours total, but according to Surna. You don't have to be there the whole time, right when it starts, you don't have to get there unless you want to see the first few artists, because they put the best or like most popular people towards the end and I feel like once we got to headliners, I was kind of over it and exhausted. Surna advises students to take care of themselves during the festival. I would say go home and nap or just pick who you want to see because being there all day is kind of hard.
For Weinberg sophomore Nancy Zun, Dillow is more than just the concert experience. I would really look forward to getting ready for Dillow, whether that's having a meal with friends before Dillow or figuring out outfits to coordinate for Dillow. I feel like I would very much enjoy the prep before Dillow, probably even more than Dillow itself. Zun says students can take advantage of activities beyond attending the live performances.
Make fun out of Dillow, whether that is just getting free food or free snacks or free marriage from the booths. Zun says she knows students that find entertainment and styling themselves for the day. I heard rumors that a lot of people would be like dressing up as like, you know those among us characters? I thought that would be really funny, just like a squad of people like spaces or something.
Above all, Zun says students should prioritize themselves. Have fun, do what you're most comfortable with. Don't feel compelled to go to Dillow just because everybody else is doing it. This is Medill Senior Helen Bradshaw's second time attending an in-person Dillow after transferring to Northwestern her sophomore year.
It's almost like if you lived next to a stadium or a concert venue and could just walk there for all the events you ever wanna go to except you don't have to buy tickets. Dillow Day 2022 also had carnival activities like character drawing stations. And I kept going back and the character drawers definitely got really annoyed with me, but it was so fun. We have them hanging like all over her house.
Bradshaw has another Memento, a pair of Converse with Mud from Dillow Day 2022. When I have not moved into the last year, they were Brown Converse, so it like blends in, but I've not worn them since, and they were really, really muddy. Bradshaw says she saw a lot of people waking up early on Dillow Day and partying at friends' houses, but she didn't participate as much herself. My social battery gets depleted very easily.
Bradshaw says she didn't attend some of the later acts last year, like Dominic Fikes, because she got tired. She recommends students make sure they can serve their energy. If you overdo things, you know, like that's it. You're probably just gonna be sitting at home, but it's fine, and I really enjoyed going to bed very early.
Like all my roommates went to bed at like 9.30 PM. Aaron Klobnock is a Weinberg junior studying biology, but when he isn't in the labs. I love partying, full disclosure. Klobnock encourages students to make the most of their Dillow Day experience.
Just try and be present in the moment, because it's like, I mean, it is truly like, to get all that stuff for free is a once in a, or I guess we get it four times, but you know, it's a very rare occurrence. Klobnock says, Dillow Day puts Northwestern life in perspective. It's just a great day to reset, and kind of remember that there's more to life than just the Northwestern grind. We're here to live a great, fulfilling life.
We're not here to cry over homework every night. From the Daily Northwestern, I'm Madison Bradley. Thanks for listening to another episode of Digital Diaries. This episode was reported and produced by me, Madison Bradley.
The audio editor of the Daily Northwestern is Mika Allison. The digital managing editors are Ava Mandoli and Erica Schmidt. And the editor-in-chief is Alex Perry. Make sure to subscribe to the Daily Northwestern's podcasts on Spotify, Apple podcasts, or SoundCloud to hear more episodes like this.