Barstool Sports’ Blackout Tour stops at Toad’s Place Thursday, and according to Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy, holding the event in New Haven was a “no-brainer.”
“Everything we do we want to bring to Toad’s Place. We never give that too much thought. We’ve realized that people don’t care who we bring because everyone knows that the Barstool name has people coming out ready to party,” Portnoy said.
Coincidentally, Portnoy said the idea for the Blackout Tour arose last year while Barstool held their White Panda event at Toad’s Place.
Barstool’s website stated that they are showing up with “enough black lights, lasers, strobes, and fog to fill Madison Square Garden.”
Dante the Don, a DJ from Chicago, will play a mash up of popular remixes throughout the night. Students can expect to hear Avicii, Tiesto, Afro Jack and more in a high-energy, rave environment where everyone will glow, Portnoy said.
Tickets, priced at $15, went on sale Sept. 20 and sold out online Nov. 9, according to Hollis Martin, the box office manager of Toad’s Place. Tickets are still available at the door on Thursday for $20. Toad’s maximum capacity is 1,000 and the event is predicted to sell out Martin said.
This tour has seen the fastest ticket sales rate of any Barstool Sports event, and every location has been sold out, according to Portnoy.
The Blackout Tour is doing two to three shows a week and already visited schools such as Clemson University, the University of Michigan and the University of West Virginia. After Quinnipiac, the tour heads to the University of Vermont, the University of Connecticut and Hofstra University.
Freshman Danny Griffith has been looking forward to the blackout party since he first heard about the tour.
“I have friends from Cornell, UMass and Stonehill coming so they can go,” he said. “They’ve all already bought tickets and are skipping their classes on Friday to come.”
Griffith said he is expecting the party to be “straight-up craziness.”
Junior Sam Chromey is also excited to attend, stating that it will be a great way to end the week before everyone heads home for Thanksgiving Break.
“I heard it’s supposed to be a wild party. It seems like Barstool picked large universities, so it’s exciting that they are coming to QU,” she said. “I know people from Sacred Heart and Farfield are also attending so it should be a great time,” she said.
According to Portnoy, Barstool’s main goal is for everyone to have an awesome time.
“We just want everyone to be psyched and have a night that’s different and unusual from what usually happens on campus,” Portnoy said. “We do whatever we can to make sure it’s an event people will have fun at.”
