By Emily Roche

Imagine this: you and 17,000 of your closest friends are packed into a small venue on a sunny April evening. You can barely hear anything over the din of the crowd, and someone’s elbow has been jabbing into your side for the past hour. You’re straining to see over the head of the obscenely tall person in front of you while being mindful of the fact that there are also small children beside you. The crowd around you features a large number of Brooklyn hipsters, but there are all kinds of people in the mass: old people, young people, families, students, Susan Sarandon.

Question: are you at a rock concert or a Bernie Sanders rally?

Tomorrow you have the opportunity to attend both, as Vampire Weekend announced today that they would be joining the league of prominent people to appear (and perform) at Bernie Sanders’s rally of epic proportions to be held tomorrow around 5 PM in Washington Square Park.

The rally promises to be a star-studded event, with figures such as Spike Lee, Rosario Dawson, and Linda Sarsour all lined up to add their voices to the powerful political storm predicted to touch down on campus tomorrow.

Bernie’s WSP event comes days after other rallies have drawn crowds of thousands in Flatbush, Greenpoint, and Coney Island. The rally in Washington Square Park is shaping up to be Bernie’s biggest in the Empire State, and although doors open at 5 PM, the official Facebook event page advises interested attendees to show up “way earlier if possible,” as the combination of huge (read: “yuge”) crowds and equally huge security presence will not facilitate easy entry.

Musical performances will begin at 7 PM, followed by political speakers (including Bernie himself) at 8pm; attendees will not be admitted to the park after 7:30.

The rally is not ticketed, but the Bernie Sanders campaign team requests that those who plan on attending RSVP here.

Interested in attending the rally, but not in fighting for your life in a crowd of thousands? Consider signing up as a volunteer! Volunteers are guaranteed access to the event, all for the low, low, cost of “a few hours of your time.” You can sign up to volunteer here. I mean, what else are you going to be doing — sitting in class?

While an email sent to the NYU community from Executive Vice President for Health Robert Berne on April 11 stated that pedestrian paths and nearby subway stops would be “open,” we all know that the areas around the park (and especially the park itself) are going to be virtually impossible to navigate, and besides, are you really going to able to focus on Organic Chemistry with the famously booming voice of Vermont senator Bernie Sanders interrupting you professor’s lecture every two minutes?

The rally comes at a pivotal moment in the Democratic presidential nomination, as delegate-rich New York heads to the polls on Tuesday, April 19. If you are planning on attending the rally, keep in mind that there will be a strong secret security presence at and around the park: large bags, weapons, chairs, sharp objects any kind, and signs on sticks or poles will not be permitted into the event. Every attendee will be required to pass through a metal detector in order to enter the rally area. Entry begins at 5 PM from the SE and SW corners of Washington Square Park .Or you could, you know, watch from the ninth floor of Kimmel. We won’t judge you.

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