Rock and Roll Freak Circus Show Party Ends a Fantastic Pulse College Year

As all Pulse students past and present are well aware, every year the first year students put an event pitch together with a theme and plan for the infamous end of year party. This year the proposals were of such a high standard that we took the decision to amalgamate two themes Rock and Roll Circus and Freak Show. Thanks to the talent, planning and coordination, this year’s party was a resounding success. Michael Callaghan took the role of lead organiser ensuring every detail was covered. At Pulse News we know that things don’t always go as smoothly as it appears. We spoke to Michael to get the low down on the drama behind the scenes.

“It took a pint glass of blue M&M’s, a box of Cuban cigars, 4 crates of Bud and 2 bottles of Moet champagne to get the 2nd year band to go on stage(rock stars ey!). But as soon as I heard the intro to “Enter Sandman” and Tom Slattery graced the eager crowd with his beautiful voice, I said to myself, Mick old buddy old pall tonight is going to be deadly! And it was.

But the Rock’n’Roll Freak show Circus didn’t just happen by accident, blood, sweat and tears went into getting it together! Actually there was no bloodshed that I know of and I don’t know about anyone else involved but I sure as hell didn’t cry! We all did our own little bit and credit must go to everyone involved.

As most of you know it all started with the FETAC event production module. A whole lot of fun that was but our group Blue D put together the idea of the Rock’n’Roll Circus and Red C had the idea of a Freak Show theme for the night. When it was announced that both our proposals won, we were delighted and knew it would be an amazing end to a fantastic college year.

After the initial panic of “how the hell are we going to do this” we called on the guidance of the legendary Skip to help get things under way. He told us everything was going to be ok (and we believed him) and set about organising a meeting with the awesome 2nd years who really were AWESOME! We organised the different crews and delegated tasks to as many people as we could, some of whom were not even at the meeting! (Sorry about that Naomi!). We needed to get the posters up and the tickets printed as soon as possible. Ross Stack did a great job on the design with such short notice. With that done and tickets selling we could order the decorations.

We ordered most of the decor off Party Shop who delivered within a few days. We ordered the bunting off another party website we found online but the delivery never came. I even drove out to the address that was listed on the site but it turns out it did not exist. This is not good” I thought. You can’t have a circus without bunting. You just can’t! It was now 4 o’clock and with time ticking away I drove to the Party Shop in Donnybrook and lucky enough I got their last 30 feet of bunting. “It will have to do” I said. After that hiccup everything was falling into place.

At half 2 the day of the event it was all hands on deck as we loaded all the gear out from Pulse into Richie’s van. Thanks Richie! We had the van full and 4 of us packed into the back of it ready to go when Richie opened the door again and said “right lads, everyone out. I can’t find my keys!” It didn’t take us long to find them (buried under a few guitar cases) before we were on our way.

We had the venue dressed and the bands were starting their sound checks at 6. Everything was going well when it just dawned on me, I forgot the raffle tickets! “Where the hell am I going to get raffle tickets?” I thought. Without a minute to spare my reliable Lisa Fox suggested I try Eason’s on O’Connell Street. My brisk walk up to the top of Abbey Street became a gallop across O’Connell Street as I saw the roller shutters come down at Easons. I shot past the security guard ignoring his shouts and jumped the barrier at the bottom of the escalator. I was getting raffle tickets no matter what, even if I was left to find them in the dark because they had turned off the lights! I was delighted with myself after that and I thought there was nothing I couldn’t do. I got back to the venue, got into my costume and waited for the guests to arrive.

The doors opened at 8, thankfully most of the guests arrived within the hour and began to mingle. The magician was doing his thing and some of the stuff he was doing was unbelievable! I have to say the bands that played really made the night an amazing one, they were excellent! The party depended on them so much and they really did deliver, the talent was outstanding. I think the guitar hero competition was a bit of a flop......; ok it was like watching a train derail! In fairness there was a lot of drink consumed by that time and I want to thank everyone for their patients. All said and done I think everyone had a good night which was the important thing.

I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone involved. I’m not going to name names because I’m afraid of forgetting someone! I said it on the night and I’ll say it again, YOU ALL KNOW WHO YOU ARE! Thanks very much. I also want to thank all the staff at the college for a great year and with a bit of luck I will see you again soon