“Hands down,” FUSA members said they were proud to announce Tuesday night that Dashboard Confessional will be the university’s spring concert, scheduled for April 6.
“We are extremely excited,” said Jon Velotta ’07, co-director of FUSA’s concert programming board. “This was our first choice.”
Dashboard Confessional is an emo band, led by singer-songwriter Chris Carrabba. Although Carrabba often tours as a solo acoustic act, a fully equipped band will accompany him to Fairfield.
FUSA was notified that Dashboard had accepted the bid, which was submitted the previous week, only hours before the information was released to the student body.
“I feel like when students hear about this, it’s going to be well received,” FUSA President Jessica DiBuono ’06 told The Mirror before the announcement. “I think we’re going to get good feedback because this choice was catered to what students want.”
Many students were happy with FUSA’s pick.
“I think a lot of people like them,” said Will Yost ’06. “I know a lot of people who talk about them a lot.”
Meg Malinowski ’06 said she is thrilled that Dashboard is coming to Fairfield.
“They’re one of my favorite bands,” she said. “I think it’s great that FUSA got them to play here. It’s hard to appeal to an entire student body, but I think Dashboard is a good fit for many of the students.”
Caitlin Ledwith ’07 shared Malinowski’s excitement.
“I can’t believe that Dashboard is coming,” Ledwith said. “I was a big fan in high school. This is very nastolgic for me.”
But other students said they were not happy with the decision.
“I think it would have been cool to see that Dashboard was playing Fairfield, if it were three years ago,” Keith Whamond ’04, Mirror Managing Editor emeritus said. “Fairfield always goes after the ‘not quite washed-up yet but more than halfway there’ acts.”
DiBuono said FUSA tries to stay informed about the student body’s musical interests year-round.
“It’s not like we pick bands that we [FUSA] like,” DiBuono said. “We talk to our friends, other FUSA members and the administration to get a general idea of what people want.”
“We want to appeal to a large group,” FUSA Vice President Kristina Chomick ’06 said. “We could never please everyone, but we aim to please the most people we can.”
Velotta said he is happy with the spring act selection because Dashboard is in a “different genre” than Guster, the university’s fall act.
But Lisa Scialabba ’07 said she thinks FUSA chose a band that is very similar to past acts.
“I’d like to see a rap band come,” Scialabba said.
FUSA spent approximately $45,000 on Dashboard, according to Velotta.
“It was exactly what we were shooting for,” he said. “We would never have gone much higher than that.”
DiBuono said FUSA looked into several other musical acts, yet declined to release the names of the artists.
“We want to focus on what we did get, not what we didn’t get,” DiBuono said.
“I don’t think students could be any luckier,” DiBuono said. “It’s difficult to get two concerts in one year.”
Chomick said comedians are usually not as expensive as musical acts.
Velotta said FUSA opted for an earlier date in April for the concert in order to avoid competing with larger schools, such as the University of Connecticut, during their “Spring Weekend.”
“We have to be open to all dates,” Velotta said. “It’s also not a matter of fitting bands into Fairfield’s schedule. We try to fit into their touring schedule.”
Fairfield still expects to see Black 47 return to campus at the end of April during the university’s May Day and Spam Jam weekend.
The Dashboard Confessional concert will take place in Alumni Hall. Ticket sales will be announced as soon as possible, FUSA said.
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