The Most Expensive Pablo Of Your Life?

Fright Night’s Fearsome Financial Folly

Something has gone awry at the Union this academic year: entry is no longer a given after a couple at the pub. Is it due to inflated student numbers? The fact that the Vic has transitioned to a bar and restaurant space? Or simply the fact that this generation of St Andreans is just collectively keener on going out?

For whatever reason, Fright Night was packed, yet it wasn’t even the beginning of the Halloween craze: I can testify first-hand to the chaos of Half-Dead at 601 on Wednesday, and I heard that Thursday was a similar story. This is surely in part due to the normalisation of having multiple costumes each Halloween, demanding multiple different occasions to flaunt them. From the Lorax to the Louvre robbers to the classic cop-out ghosts and frat boys, they deserved to be seen.

Whatever the cause, there has been a scramble to attend Fright Night, which sold out almost immediately (and tickets went on sale two days earlier than advertised). There have been murmurs of ticket resales reaching up to £150, three ball afterparties’ worth. Some are rumoured to have bought the platinum pass — and no, not just the normal one, the degree-long version — just to join in.

This was an event where the Saint privilege was at its most useful; after emailing on the day itself, I waltzed in without spending triple figures, armed in my Cher from Clueless fit that, largely due to laziness, has been my mainstay since sixth form.

The Union had undergone somewhat of a transformation for Fright Night, with cobwebs draped from the ceiling, accompanied by pink and purple lights in the Main Bar, and enormous spiders lurking in the corners of 601. In contrast to last year’s vaguely Rocky Horror club, it felt more creepy than camp. I liked the unusual flipped layout of the main club area, with the DJ in a sort of scaffolding cage at one end, and the stage on the other side, instead transformed into a special bar of its own, which, as with any seemingly ‘VIP’ area, everyone was eager to get up to. Peering over the makeshift balcony at the dancefloor and feeling falsely powerful, it sort of reminded me of doing the same at techno clubs in Cologne on my year abroad — continental comparison I never thought I’d make about our humble Union.

The music largely encompassed the usual pounding dance tracks, a particularly random favourite being ‘One More Time’ by Daft Punk — in no regard a Halloween staple, but an absolutely awesome and recently very underplayed electronic classic. The event was really energetic, which did sometimes lead to pushing on the dancefloor, but as fourth-year Eve Cormack notes, “the only fright about Fright Night is how fun it is.”

Did the event continue to reach new horrifying heights? To be honest, Sallies mothering duties kicked in around 1am, when I had to help a fresher whose pres had gone frighteningly too far. However, the event was without a doubt in full force well past midnight and was only getting busier. It was also a floor for theatrics, a particular favourite moment of mine being an inflatable capybara slamming into a wall trying to leave the club. Do I ever think it’s worth dropping over a hundred pounds in exchange for Pablos and sticky floor experience? No. But, if you’re quick on the Union website next year, this is certainly not an event to miss.

Photo by Alex Barnard