An absolutely
HUGE party at MIT's
Senior Haus. It's been going on for over 35 years. At the 2001 Steer Roast, 9 bands (many punk) were flown in from all over the country/world to play, though they played for cheap - $5000 for all of them, plus plane tickets. The one I know best is the
Minibosses (video game cover band). They went absolutely crazy - broke their
guitar strings and busted an expensive
amp they'd borrowed. A couple tracks they played were
Contra,
Metroid and of course
Castlevania.
The namesake of steer roast is, of course, the BBQ. There's a huge grill in the courtyard; 900 pounds (!) of meat, an entire cow - they served the charred head to the bands (who rejected it of course), is sliced up and chucked on this huge grill. Gasoline is poured underneath and it's lit by, get this, a flaming roll of toilet paper thrown from the top of the 4 or 5 story dorm. The flame burns high for a minute or so, then they spray it down and the meat cooks for the three days of the party - they eat on the last day. About 10 people stand around with fire extinguishers, in case something band happens, like it did in 2000 (not sure what happened, though). Ironically, the 2001 organizer is vegetarian. Much alcohol was served - each band, many with 6 members, said they wouldn't play until they were drunk. That's a lot of beer.
Being this party at the Senior Haus, you see lots of weird people - piercings, mohawks, cross-dressers; anything you could think of. MIT isn't just starched shirts.