Photo Illustration by Dan Leitao.
Somebody call 911: Sean Kingston, Eve 6 and a third, surprise guest are coming to Fairfield on Feb. 20 for the FUSA concert.
The third act, which will be announced as soon as possible after winter break, will be in the genre of either Sean Kingston or Eve 6. Melissa Mann ‘10, the FUSA director of concerts and also the entertainment editor of The Mirror, said the concert programmers are in the process of finalizing the third act.
Sorry, Fairfield; the surprise guest will not be Taylor Swift.
Despite rumors that sparked Facebook groups like “Taylor Swift is Coming to Fairfield,” Taylor Swift would cost too much money, said Mann.
“We try and start rumors as a joke to throw people off, but Taylor Swift is out of our price range,” said Mann.
A Swift concert would cost about $500,000, plus production costs, and the FUSA concert budget this year was about $33,000, plus roughly $53,000 from expected ticket sales.
Last year, FUSA bid $50,000 to get John Legend on campus. In 2008, FUSA paired with Student Affairs to come up with the $85,000 bid for Ludacris.
Reggae fusion and rock may seem like a strange mix, but the mix was intentional.
“We wanted to get as many students as possible,” said Mann.
“If a student doesn’t like Sean Kingston, there’s a good chance they’re going to like Eve 6.”
Kingston has several recent top 10 hits including “Fire Burnin” and “Beautiful Girls,” and Eve 6 plays well-known rock songs like “Here’s to the Night” and “Inside Out.”
“How’d we pull that off!” said Kate Reilly ‘11 when told about the concert. “Are you kidding me? That’s wonderful.”
Mann’s goal was a concert where “students recognize the artists and are going to able to sing the songs.”
According to Mann, FUSA considers the concert acts from past surveys and student opinions.
“I’ve been here four years, I’ve heard students talk about the concert,” said Mann.
“There’s a very fine line between appeasing all students. You take a chance when choosing someone like John Legend, who was great, but not many people knew who he was,” she continued.
Student reactions have been positive so far, and when Mann first announced the concert to FUSA members, “jaws dropped.”
Lisa Arduini ‘10 said that she was happy that Sean Kingston was coming.
“I’m glad it’s someone we listen to now and not someone from high school,” said Arduini.
“I feel like the concert will be packed because they’re obviously popular, or they were when we were younger,” said Jenny Browne ‘10.
According to Mann, Eve 6 is “a throwback band” but “we know that they’re fun and they’re going to put on a good show.”
“I kind of like that it’s songs we grew up with,” said Carolyn Sheehan ‘10.
Other students disagreed, including Cheril Perez ’12.
“I don’t even know who Eve 6 is,” said Perez.
The false rumors of a Taylor Swift concert also affected students’ opinions.
“I was so happy and they brought me down,” said Carolina Arias ‘12. “They’ve had the same type of music every year.”
“Sean Kingston isn’t my type of music, I like country,” said Shannon Deegan ‘13. “I’ll still attend, though, a concert’s a concert.”
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