A crowd of University students and Charlottesville locals gathered Thursday inside the Jefferson Theater to revel in a DJ set by Alex Dougherty — known colloquially as Big Red. Dougherty is currently on his “Day Made” tour, DJing live around the country, primarily in college towns. Before coming to Charlottesville, Dougherty had recently performed in cities including Athens, Ga. and Oxford, Miss., selling out both shows. For the chronically online, Big Red’s “Day Made” tour lived up to its name.
Dougherty has been an internet staple long before he began his DJ career. The 20-year-old rose to fame around seven years ago as the oldest of ten kids in the “Dougherty Dozen” family. Hailing from outside Rochester, N.Y., parents Josh and Alicia Dougherty raised a family of ten adopted and biological children, leading to the name “Dougherty Dozen.” During the COVID-19 pandemic, Alicia began posting time-lapsed videos of her massive meal-prep routine for her family, and quickly went viral. The Dougherty Dozen account continues to be active on YouTube, TikTok and Instagram, and have amassed over 11 million followers across the three platforms.
Alex Dougherty is the most individually famous of his siblings for his dancing videos and “Big Red” persona, which has helped him build his own audience separate from the people who enjoy the family-centered content on the main account. Dougherty said that his videos appeal to a college-aged demographic, which informed his decision to tour in college towns.
“I would say my primary audience is [college-aged people],” Dougherty said. “Because I made my own platform. … People from my mom’s page know who I am but they’re younger [or] they’re older. So I made my own page so I can connect with the people around me at my age.”
As people piled into the Jefferson Theater, eager to see Dougherty, the energy was high with chants of “Big Red” echoing through the venue. Before Dougherty came out, a stage manager placed a pack of Oreos and a mini-fridge labeled “Alex” on the stage, references to one of the siblings’ favorite snacks and Alicia’s mini-fridge videos for her kids respectively. Third-year Batten student David Erickson said that it was nice to see those smaller details included in the set.
“My favorite part was when Big Red brought out his mini-fridge from the weekly mini-fridge restocks, just because it has so many symbolic references to his family,” Erickson said.
Finally red lights illuminated the stage and Dougherty made his entrance to the song “E85” by Don Toliver, in a red suit paired with matching red Air Jordans. After a video Dougherty posted on TikTok doing a dance to “E85” got 6 million views overnight, he said he decided to post more videos to the song, and since then it has become his signature dance. He even did the dance at Don Toliver’s concert in June, and posted a video that quickly gained 3 million likes.
After “E85,” Dougherty dove into 2000s dance hits including Justin Bieber's “Beauty and a Beat” and “S&M” by Rihanna. The light show was impressive and varied, creating a club-like atmosphere bathing Dougherty in vibrant reds, greens and blues.
As the set continued, Dougherty transitioned through multiple different music genres, from country songs like Ella Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas” to house music hits such as Prospa, Cloonee and Sybi’s “Free Your Mind” remix. The screen behind him switched from filming the crowd — spotlighting particularly intense dancers or fans waving Big Red flags — to artificial intelligence-generated images of Big Red in various famous music roles. A particularly clever background image was a play on Taylor Swift’s “Red” album with Dougherty sitting in the album cover’s car instead, with the word “Red” still on the label.
One of the most exciting moments of the night occurred when Dougherty pulled a crowd member on the stage to be the “Big Red Sweetheart,” a phrase that was projected on the background. The crowd clapped and screamed as he brought a woman from the audience onto the stage to Taylor Swift’s “Love Story.” In tandem with Swift’s lyrics, Dougherty knelt to the ground and pulled out a ring, enacting a fake proposal. He continued to interact with the crowd throughout the rest of the show, taking pictures on people’s phones and giving out high-fives to keep people energized.
As the set neared its end after about 90 minutes, Dougherty did the “E85” dance again to close the concert out. He asked the crowd to do the dance with him if they knew it, which many did. After the song ended, he momentarily left the stage and people started to file out of the venue, but Big Red was not done. Zac Bryan’s “Something in the Orange” started playing over the speakers and Dougherty re-emerged from the side of the stage, leaving behind the DJ equipment in favor of a microphone and a chair at the front of the stage. He proceeded to deliver an acoustic cover of Bryan's song, boasting raw vocals while fans waved their camera flashes. That solo officially ended the concert, but he stuck around the venue after to take pictures with fans and sign their merch.
For some University students, Dougherty holds significance beyond his DJ skills or TikTok videos. Third-year College student Olivia Dell’Aglio said that Dougherty actually played a role in helping find her people her first year at the University.
“Big Red has just been a bonding experience with me and some of my friends. We've been fans of the Dougherty Dozen for a long time,” Dell’Aglio said. “That was kind of what brought us together first year, so it was really exciting to be able to experience that with them.”
Dougherty said he was motivated to start touring because of his passion for music. He said his favorite part of the tour has been seeing people smile, which is how he feels he gives back to his fans.
“When I see people smile, it makes me feel good. It makes me feel that the music that I play either helps them mentally, makes them happy or makes them energetic,” Dougherty said. “So that’s what I try to do.”
Dougherty’s DJ set had his fans dancing all night long at the Jefferson Theater. With that in mind, it seems like Dougherty successfully completed his goal to make people smile in Charlottesville.
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