It was a hot summer day. Most vacationing Fairfield students were off campus, relaxing.
But Matt Signore ’11 and Mike Rubertone ’11 were hard at work, reading over 550 surveys completed by Fairfield students on who should be picked for this year’s major FUSA concert.
Of course with a limited budget, picking well known artists can be challenging.
“It’s tough when students always ask for artists like Lady Gaga, Jay-Z and Taylor Swift, because those artists are priced at over half a million dollars,” said Rubertone in a press release, “Clearly there’s nothing a college venue of our size and budget can do to attract those artists, but for what we had to work with, we grabbed a stellar duo and couldn’t be more excited to bring them to you guys.”
FUSA has used the tagline, “It’s Your School. It’s Your Concert,” to promote the October 29 show featuring Jason Derulo and 3OH!3 . It seems to hold true. Interviews with students showed they were buzzing when they caught wind of who was playing at the concert.
“I think that FUSA does a good job with concerts. Not everyone is into rock n’ roll like myself, so the concert choice is a good one because at concerts the main appeal is dancing and having an awesome time,” said Chris Melcher ’11. “Picking music, which is popular, is the right way to go. It’s not about appealing to every student; it’s about appealing to the majority.”
Vin Ferrer ’12 agrees with Melcher.
“I think their choices for the fall concert were appropriate given the general interest of the majority of students. A lot of students here enjoy energetic, autotune-infused songs that are popular on the radio and often played at parties, so these two artists fit right in,” he said.
The question is how does one become eligible to pick what concerts play at Fairfield?
“FUSA interviews applicants each year in the spring for the FUSA Director of Concerts positions for the upcoming year,” said Signore. “This past spring, Mike Rubertone and I were selected to those positions and essentially this gave us the responsibility of choosing and managing any concert selection throughout the year.”
In previous FUSA concerts here at Fairfield, we have had John Legend, Eve 6, Kat Deluna and Sean Kingston. Adding to the list with yet another awesome duo, Signore explains how the other potential candidates for this years fall concert are a secret.
“Part of our responsibilities as Directors of Concerts is to keep our choices and selections a secret before we announce it to the students, and as such, even after announcing we’ll keep our brainstorming a secret. We take our job very seriously because we have to; if students are wondering who we looked at for the concert, they need only to look at the concert survey they submitted or the survey their friend created,” he said. “That was our criteria of choices; we looked at each suggestion to see popularity and if it’s in the budget constraints.”
Jason Derulo and 3OH!3 are not the only stellar act in town this month, however. The Goo Goo Dolls will be performing at Sacred Heart for their fall October 28 concert. Signore feels no rivalry, though. Instead, he seems quite content with our concert decision.
“I don’t think there is a rivalry at all between us; the goal for both schools is to bring an act to campus that will excite its students and that will put on an amazing show,” he said. “We commend the job that Sacred Heart did to bring in Goo Goo Dolls; they brought in a great classic act and were able to do so with a very affordable ticket price.”
Since Fairfield University puts on over 30 programming events a semester not including the concert, there is room for flexibility as far as ticket pricing and choice for the concert, where as Sacred Heart has only half the programming that Fairfield does in an entire year.
“FUSA prides itself on having outstanding, fun events every weekend for students, and even as such, Mike and I used our own flexibility to stretch our budget to two great current artists that create a stellar act at a reasonable ticket price,” said Signore.
Although potential rivals, it was once said that Sacred Heart and Fairfield were going to team up in order to bring John Mayer to the Bridgeport Arena. Although Signore agrees that this would be a great idea, he believes that having our fall concert on campus has more appeal to students.
“I think in theory it would have great potential to combine resources and use a larger venue like The Arena,” Signore said. “At the same time, I think keeping our concert home-grown on campus adds to its appeal for students. They get to have a great show right in their backyard; everyone loves the proximity to where they live, and the opportunity to walk right into a great show on a given night cannot be overlooked.”
After reading the surveys and stopping to wipe their brow on the hot summer day, Signore and Rubertone chose two amazing artists, which Fairfield students can’t wait to enjoy.
“Bottom line, it’s the student’s school and as such it should be the student’s concert. Your opinion matters and we listened, “ said Signore.
The fall concert will take place at Alumni Hall on October 29, doors open at 7 p.m. Tickets will go on sale for $35 if you are a student at the student campus center on Wednesday, October 27 at 11 a.m.
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