Around five o’clock on Wednesday afternoon, about seventy first-years are lined up at the entrance to the Vibes Festival with their Intro dads and moms. Inside, the music bingo is still going strong. The crowd on Stadhuisplein is made up largely of partying HBO and MBO students. The energy is high. “No mosh pits, guys—not again,” someone on stage shouts toward the audience.

Few TU/e students

The festival is a joint initiative of Fontys University of Applied Sciences, TU/e, SintLucas, Summa College, De Rooi Pannen, and the municipality of Eindhoven. Tickets were purchased in advance by the educational institutions. For TU/e students, entry to the event was included in the Intro fee.

Event organizer Ralph Opbroek expected about 30 percent of the roughly two thousand TU/e ticket holders to actually show up. Based on ticket sales, the total attendance was projected at seven to eight thousand visitors, compared to about 3,500 last year.

Looking back the next morning, Opbroek calls the event a success. He doesn’t yet know whether they hit the expected numbers but is happy with the turnout. “It was definitely a lot busier than last year. Students really enjoyed it—the vibe was great.” He also says he saw plenty of TU/e students himself: “More than we expected beforehand.”

SSRE

Among the crowd, members of the student association Demos and SSRE are particularly visible—many of them TU/e students. Bas (24), a sixth-year Mechanical Engineering student, and Timo (21), who just graduated in Architecture, Urbanism and Building Sciences, are wearing SSRE shirts and polos, beers in hand.

With pounding techno in the background, they explain why they’re there. “We’re here to recruit new members for our association,” says Bas. “It’s our second time doing this at Vibes. We want SSRE to be more inclusive so we can grow as an association and eventually organize bigger parties.”

Timo adds: “We’re partying a bit, meeting new people, and striking up conversations to see if they’re interested in joining. We also have a sign-up booth at the back of the grounds—some people have already stopped by.”

So far, they haven’t recruited anyone new at this edition. Timo: “It’s harder at mixed events like this because HBO students often don’t really know what a student association is, and many of them are still under eighteen when they start.”

Bas: “We also notice that it’s harder for student associations to communicate with HBO study associations. We should sit down together sometime.” According to the two, the challenge is partly due to student associations’ negative image. Timo: “Last year, intro parents were telling students that associations are bad. It seems better this year, at least from what I’ve seen.”

Low-stimulus zone

For anyone needing a break from the noise, a low-stimulus zone was promised—but not widely known. It turns out to be a corner at the back of the festival grounds, though it’s not really used as intended.

It’s mostly a spot to grab food. By six o’clock, many students are eating there, away from the music. Fontys students Daan and Kayne hadn’t heard of a quiet zone. “The vibe here is amazing,” says Kayne. “Not too crowded, but not too empty either.” Daan adds: “I was here last year too. Back then you could barely move, but there’s more space now.”

And do students from different schools mix much? Daan: “Not really. Everyone tends to stick with their own group, especially with their intro parents. You can make friends from other programs, sure, but you usually don’t see them again afterward.”

Headliner

The evening’s headliner was DJ La Fuente, born and raised in Eindhoven. He’s welcomed on stage with fire and confetti by an energetic crowd. The well-known house DJ will soon perform his own show at the Gelredome, but first he’s here to welcome all first-year students to his city.

Everything feels like a full-blown festival. Still, the event’s goal—a big party uniting students of all educational levels—seems harder to achieve than expected. The venue and the organization are in place; now, if only more TU/e students would join in.