Paint Storm at Eagles Ballroom at the Rave in Milwaukee was on Saturday, April 23rd. Doors opened at 7:00pm, but the multiple DJs performing didn’t start until 8:00 pm. They performed until midnight.

The night of Paint Storm, Summer Set, States and Capitals, Call Me Karisma, and Handsome Ghost also performed. But Paint Storm was located at the Ballroom on the top floor of the venue.

With so many concerts that evening, parking surrounding the Rave was sparse. We ended up paying $20 to find close parking without having to park on the street.

Before entering the concert, security did a quick search, even asking for phone cases to be removed.

Once inside the ballroom, there was a huge crowd. The enormous ballroom was protected from the paint by massive tarps covering pillars surrounding the ballroom, and carpet was laid out.

Of course there were your typical concert annoyances — people stepping on each other’s shoes, the anxiety of being separated from the group, and the annoying train of concert-goers who push through the crowd to get closer when there’s already no room to breathe.

Everyone pressed together, dancing and jumping.

The most anticipated part of the Rave’s Paint Storm is, of course, the paint launched from on stage. A timer on stage counted down every twenty minutes to release fluorescent paint into the audience — and when it was released, the crowd went crazy.

After all, how many opportunities are there to be covered in paint?

Many guests purposefully wore white to show off the splattered paint. Besides paint, confetti was also launched.

The paint was water-based and washed out.  

This water-based paint also prevented guests from getting harmful chemicals into their mouths and eyes. But it didn’t protect from the cold — the paint was freezing!

At the end of the night, we were drenched. The paint in our hair hardened and felt like straw. And with our clothes were covered in paint, we knew it would be a chilly walk to the car.

The trickiest part of the night was figuring out how to keep paint off the inside of the car — we brought a dozen towels the keep up our hair and to sit on for the ride home. As soon as we got home, we had to shower. But it wasn’t difficult to clean off the paint.

As Paint Storms are semi-annual events at the Rave/Eagles Ballroom, the next Paint Storm is expected to be this August.

Over all, Paint Storm was a great experience. It’s something that we recommend for young adults, as it was an all ages concert and there were plenty of younger kids there as well as older. It’s a great way to connect with friends and the most approachable concert for anyone’s first concert at the Rave.

“It wasn’t my first concert at the Rave,” said sophomore Caitlyn Kleczka, “but it was the most fun one I’ve gone to.”