The Shark Tank is the home of the weekly pub night for Loyalist College students. Some students are saying there should be changes to the entertainment at pub nights. Photo by Kyle Ellington, QNet News
BELLEVILLE – A staple of entertainment at Loyalist College has always been its Thursday pub nights at the Shark Tank.
For many students, pub has been the entertainment highlight of college. But these days many are saying it has lost its original flair and they are feeling rather unsatisfied with pub.
The outside walls of the Shark Tank are covered with posters of performers who appeared there in the past:
But things are different now. There are no live bands; most weeks pub simply has a theme, such as Halloween, country music, LED lights, and so on.
First-year student Rakshica Mathur says she tries to go to all the pub nights but hasn’t really got much enjoyment out of it. In an interview with QNet News last week, Mathur was adamant that there should be a change in the music.
“It sucks,” she said. “The DJ, mostly. It was just the same playlist over and over again.
“I would say that pub night has been getting worse because the themes have gotten repetitive. Why are we having country nights twice a year?”
Mathur said her friends agree with her that pub nights aren’t as fun as they could be. She might go to pub nights less often this semester, she said.
Student Joshua Reid is also not a big fan of the music at pub night. He said he came to the second pub night of the year and found the light show they had that night was amazing, but couldn’t get over the choice of music.
“It takes a large amount of talent to be musically inclined,” says Loyalist student Joshua Reid. Photo by Kyle Ellington, QNet News
“The music is not the greatest,” he said. “It’s a complaint that I’ve heard from a lot of my friends too. I feel the music should be something people know right off the bat and not remixed. And if they did it that way, then a lot more people will be laughing with their friends. Whereas you can’t really sing along to songs that people don’t know … A lot more people would attend if the music was more mainstream instead of something that someone has created. I feel like that’s one of the reasons why pub night is going stale.”
Better music would also make people feel like staying longer at pub nights, Reid said: “Music is definitely going to keep people around. Let’s say you’re hearing a high-pitched noise – I’m pretty sure anyone wouldn’t want to stay around. That’s not a great sound to your ears. And the same thing applies when it comes to music.”
First-year student Jakob Mcintyre said he enjoys going to pub nights but the event has lost some of its lustre.
“Even the last pub, I was finding that I was getting out of the mood a little bit,” he said.
Mycintre and his friends go to pub night every week and find that it’s a pretty good time, he said. But like the other students interviewed, he said the same themes have been getting tiresome.”
“I guess now they’re reusing themes. I haven’t been through another theme yet, so it kind of might be fun or it might not be. But I’m probably still going to end up going unless nobody is going to be there.
“In terms of pub being better, I think that they should have different themes throughout the entire year and not just reuse themes. They should also switch up DJs and have a different DJ get his own kind of sound so it’s not the same music.
“Personally, I like the DJ, but maybe every once in a while I would like them to switch it up. If they put out an ad, I’m sure that many people would like to try out for” being the DJ.
When QNet News asked students on Facebook what they’d like to see for entertainment on pub nights, Eil Larcombe responded: “More live entertainment and music. As an older student, I have no interest in going to pub nights unless there is live music.”
Country Night will return this Thursday at the Shark Tank.
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