Miami University juniors Kelvin Jackson and Carli Wright perform with The Sultans Swag before The Fray performed last Wednesday. night at Millett Hall. (Lauren Olsen | The Miami Student)
Miami University's spring concert featuring The Fray last Wednesday offered a mix of midweek fun, impromptu schedule changes and less-than-impressive ticket sales. Despite much anticipation, the concert sold less than half the expected amount of tickets by selling an estimated 1,600 of the 5,000 tickets available to students.
Miami's Campus Activities Council's Concert Board and the Performing Arts Series collaborated to bring The Fray to Miami for the spring concert.
Patti Liberatore, director of Miami's Performing Arts Series, was one of the leaders in the collaborative effort.
"We always want to sell every ticket, but it's hard to do," Liberatore said.
Liberatore also said the goal of the concert was more to bring great entertainment to Miami students than to make a profit.
"We expected the concert to be good and it actually might have been better than we thought," Liberatore said.
Sophomore Jessica Watson decided to go to the concert at the last minute when tickets were offered at a discount price.
"It ended up being an awesome show because the lead singer came down in the audience and made it a great experience," Watson said.
Despite Watson's positive review, she said the original $40 cost for tickets played a role in lack of attendance.
"Tickets were really expensive and I assume some students would rather save their money or spend it on essentials," Watson said.
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The price for tickets may have been steep for a college student salary, however Liberatore said the timing of the concert was also a factor.
"It's an extraordinarily busy part of the year for students and there's a lot of competition for students' time," she said.
According to Liberatore, despite the number of tickets sold, no funds were lost in the process. This is because the Performing Art Series covers expenses based on previous performance's profits.
Liberatore was contacted multiple times to provide the cost to bring The Fray to Miami and clarify how no funds were lost in the process but was not able to provide the data.
The concert provided students with a chance for entertainment and also gave a local band the impromptu chance to open for The Fray. At 3 p.m. the day of the concert, The Fray learned their opening act, Jessie Baylin, was sick and would be unable to perform so they sent out a tweet requesting local bands in Oxford to send in demos via Twitter.
The Fray chose Sultans of Swag, a hip-hop and R&B band comprised of Miami students.
Junior Carli Wright, a vocalist in the band, tweeted The Fray links to their Facebook page and YouTube videos and within an hour, she received a tweet to be at sound check.
"The show was phenomenal; performing at such a big venue in front of so many people and opening for a band that I hear on the radio was amazing," Wright said.
As well as opening, being able to meet members of The Fray added to the experience.
"They were so nice and they picked us which is beyond cool," Wright said.
Wright said she expects the performance will open doors for the band in the future.
"We all have been getting recognized around campus, so hopefully next year we can play regularly and bigger venues," Wright said.
After the Sultans of Swag got a few unexpected moments of fame and The Fray's one-hour performance concluded, the spring concert with a dose of drama was over.
Blake Johnston, Concert Board co-chair, said the spring concert serves as chance for students to rally together and enjoy great music before the end of the school year.
"It was great, and I think it was something that kids will talk about in the years to come," Johnston said.
Liberatore said the Performing Art Series and concert board both commit to providing students with the best entertainment by researching available bands and coordinating dates.
Although many did not take advantage of it, this opportunity will continue to be a staple among Miami's events, according to Watson.
"The spring concert is always something to look forward to; it's definitely one of the better on campus activities," Watson said.
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