Excitement for Fairfield University’s second annual Red Sea Madness is growing since students were becoming increasingly anxious to find out who this year’s musical guest would be. Last week on Sept. 21, the Fairfield University Student Association released a video containing the announcement of this year’s guest, T-Pain.
According to Danielle Rice ‘19, director of the FUSA Programming Board, last year’s pep rally was a large success with Stags of all grades filling the stands. So much of a success in fact that it exceeded the fire code that states how many students are allowed in Alumni Hall’s bleachers, which is 1,000 students.
Rice added that this year, a few tweaks will be made in order to improve the experience for those involved and ensure that everyone remains safe. There will be stricter enforcement of the 1,000 student limit for the first part of the pep rally, with the remainder of the students being let in after to watch T-Pain.
Students who arrive after the 1,000-person limit is met will be escorted into a large outdoor area. In this space students will have access to five food trucks: Taco Loco, Colony Grill, Super Duper Weenie, Dogtown and Garden Catering. After the pep rally concludes, these students will be admitted into Alumni Hall to fill the court.
After speaking to Rice to get a sense of what went into obtaining such a recognizable artist in comparison to Lil Dicky last year, Rice commented that “T-Pain was in our workable budget, while also being an artist we felt would be relevant to our current students and alumni.”
However, some students think that T-Pain is a bit outdated and that FUSA should have gotten a more modern name.
“It’s like old, 2000s,” said Dominique Delva ‘19. “I wish it was a newer artist.”
The FUSA board came to the conclusion that students would be willing to pay a higher price for a more recognizable name. Tickets are currently on sale, $40 for students and $45 for 18+ guests and alumni.
Although there were a number of students who enjoyed last year’s performance by Lil Dicky, many students left the show disappointed with his lack of showmanship, an issue that FUSA set out to fix this year.
“There’s not a doubt in my mind that T-Pain will put on the show of a lifetime,” said FUSA Treasury Board Coordinator Christian Colón ‘19.
The announcement was well-received throughout the student body, with the campus buzzing over the news mere hours following the announcement. While it is an annoyance that the price has been raised, the majority of students understand that higher quality means more money.
After being asked if he was willing to pay more money for a bigger name, Will Carlin ’19 said, “Absolutely, T-Pain has at least 15 recognizable songs while Lil Dicky has maybe two, that’s probably the biggest factor.”
Sophomore Paul Bova agreed with this sentiment.
“Forty dollars seems fine to me,” Bova said. “I think it’s worth it because, to get an artist that at least I’ve heard of before to come here [on campus], for $40 that seems like a reasonable price.”
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