SCION Exposed

A literal underground party?! Why not! I’d heard stories of the transit center and figured this would be a great way to check it out.
Cars, stunt bikes, photo booth, mechanical bull, food trucks, music. can’t go wrong right? Well… it could be because we went later in the evening. Most cars were gone, most stands packed up, and food trucks out of most things or already packed up. Oh well, continue to the music! The lasers were cool, the strobes in that small space were not… as well as the acoustics. Way too much reverb. They might be better off putting the stage closer to the door to help the sound. I mean that’s what we’re there for right?!
It was just kind of meh… not sure I’d be up for it again… but kind of cool to say you «went to an underground rave»

We had a little bit of time after an event we had downtown and thought hey its still open for a few more minutes lets go. It was really cool going in the tunnel that is never open to the public. It was very loud down by the DJ and had a lot of flashing lights that started to give me a headache almost as soon as I got close. It was a long walk down to were the stage was. I might have had more fun if we could have got there early on but it was starting to pack up when we got there.

I made a last minute decision to attend this. It didn’t hurt that the event was free, so I do feel a little bad giving it 3 stars. Overall it was a unique event in a unique space that will hopefully see more activity as I assume it goes unused most of the year. I felt like I was going to some kind of underground rave, and in theory I was. Great to see lots of food trucks and other vendors. Had I not already eaten, I would have loved to try some of the food. The music, at least in my opinion, was only so so. For some reason RJD2’s sound was super treble heavy to the point of almost painful. Give me some bass!!! A minor highlight were a few b-​boys and even a b-​girl strutting their fancy dance moves to the music. It was good for about an hour of entertainment.

I’ve been looking for a reason to explore the Riverfront Transit Center, which, despite being city property, is normally off-​limits to the public. Scion Exposed gave me the opportunity to explore the architecture and then some.
The 12-​hour festival featured a display of dozens of «pimped out» Scions, from sportscars to the brand’s signature boxy car. Glowing lights, custom paint themes, chalkboard trunks, and A Clockwork Orange stickers were just some of the styles I saw. There were also several food trucks, like Pizza Bomba and New Orleans To Go serving up fresh, hot goodness, plus Moerlein beer.
There was also a vibrantly colored skate park by Able, a Cincinnati Rollergirls demonstration, inflatable rock climbing, and a mechanical bull. Last, guests descended upon the main stage which featured a full line-​up of rock bands.
The best of all: the event was totally FREE.
There were a decent amount of things to check out; I stayed for about an hour.
A few things needed improvement:
— The bands were too loud. I was yelling at the food vendors and Scion alarms kept going off.
— The food trucks were running out of their full menu by 4:00. As the event had only been going for four hours, I was surprised with limited options and wondered how they would feed the evening crowd.
I’m definitely glad I went during the day rather than for the nighttime shows. It wasn’t as crowded and I was able to see all the cool structural designs and colors.