Fairfield hosted its annual Red Sea Madness and Fall Concert event on Friday, Oct. 25, which sold out tickets and featured hip-hop artist Fetty Wap.
The event was hosted by the Fairfield University Students Association and Stags in the Stands. The Red Sea Madness pep rally to kick off the basketball season was held before the concert, starting at 7:30 p.m., and the bleachers of Alumni Hall were filled by students, all dressed in the color red, thus creating the illusion of a red sea. This element of the night is enjoyed by many students.
“I think that the concert was very fun. I especially like the Red Sea Madness, I feel like that’s a great touch to the night to celebrate our basketball teams and Fairfield!” said Jillian Casey ‘22.
The men and women’s basketball team came out and competed in mini games such as a three-point contest (won by the women) and a dunk contest on the men’s team. The Fairfield dance team and cheerleaders performed as well. Faculty members were brought out to join in on the festivities; President Mark Nemec, Ph.D. was challenged to shoot a three-pointer in order to win a pre-game pizza party for the students in a few weeks but unfortunately, he did not make the shot. Students were also asked to participate in this pep rally, such as in the dance competition, where the crowd voted by applause for the student they felt had the best dance moves who would then win $250. The winner this year was Louis Benoit ‘21.
Those students that attended the pep rally later filled the floor of Alumni Hall in front of the stage, and the remainder of the students who attended the concert stood in the stands. The floor was packed tight with students waiting to see Fetty Wap perform.
Last Sunday, Fetty Wap was arrested in Las Vegas on alleged assault and battery charges, as reported by CNBC. The claim made by local news reporters was that he hit a parking attendant after getting into an argument. Students at Fairfield were concerned that Fetty Wap would not be able to come perform at Fairfield due to these allegations.
“I think people are excited about the concert, I think it has certainly generated a lot of buzz here on campus. But at the end of the day, I think we are a little concerned about the allegations made this week,” Conor Chmiel ‘22 said.
However, the university and the student organizers assured those who shared these concerns that everything was under control.
In an email sent to the student body by FUSA and the Department of Public Safety, it was stated that, “we wanted to assure you that Fetty Wap will be in attendance. This has always been the case and was confirmed by his agent.”
Fetty Wap came on stage around 9:45 p.m. wearing a Fairfield jersey. He performed until about 10:30 p.m., playing some of his hits such as “Trap Queen” and “My Way.”
Students said that they had a good time; however, the biggest complaint heard was about the immensely crowded environment around the stage.
“I think it was an overall good time, the pep rally was really fun and it was nice to have a lot of people there,” said Olivia Alessandro ‘22. “The music was good, just crowded depending where you were.”
Sophomore Tyler Senior said, “I had a lot of fun at the concert with all my friends. We went to the pep rally, Red Sea Madness supporting our basketball programs. Fetty Wap was great, he really got the crowd into it, all in all it was a great experience.”
“We’re still running our numbers from this weekend, but out of the 2300 tickets sold, we estimate that approximately 2,000 students were in attendance at this year’s event,” wrote Thomas Boutros, FUSA’s director of programming via email. “As always, we aim to support our partners over at Fairfield Athletics, as well as our Men & Women’s basketball teams, while putting on a great show for our students. With that being said, I would say this year’s Red Sea Madness was a hit! The pep rally was probably the most engaged and fun that we’ve had since our partnership began, and Fetty Wap put on an amazing show.”
“My friends and I had a lot of fun at Fetty Wap!” said Megan MacGilvray ‘23. “It was very fun to see the Fairfield community come together.”
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