On March 22, at the Fairfield men’s lacrosse game, Fairfield University Student Association President Tyler Heffern ‘22 and Vice President Cailyn Fiori ‘22 announced that after three years, Red Sea Madness would return with Flo Rida performing.
In the days leading up to the game, emails were sent out to the student body, which alluded to a “special announcement” that was going to be made at the game. At halftime, members of FUSA were introduced to raise anticipation for the big reveal.
Fiori could be heard over the loudspeaker saying, “It’s been a long few years without some of our favorite campus traditions,” and cued the audience to take a look over to the big screen.
The video started by showing Red Sea Madness performers from past years, and then cut to three years later with the big announcement that Flo Rida is coming to perform for Fairfield University, on April 22.
According to an article by The Mirror, Lil’ Dicky, T-Pain, DNCE and Fetty Wap were all performers for Fairfield’s Red Sea Madness years prior.
However, the spring concert this year will be different due to the fact that it will take place off campus. The concert will be hosted at Hartford Healthcare Amphitheater instead of Alumni Hall like years past, due to current construction preventing such occurrence.
Heffern states, “when we had our budget we initially planned for Alumni Hall, however in order to rent out an entire venue it would be an extraordinary amount of money.”
Despite the event coinciding with a public event, Heffern relays that FUSA acquired the whole floor for students only separate from others attending the event.
More so, Fiori and Heffern state that holding an event at a public venue allows for bigger names to headline. Heffern explains that during the process, the Hartford Healthcare Amphitheater “asked for a list of artists and we gave them five big names, and they chose one accordingly for timing and budget wise.”
Given the events of COVID not allowing a spring concert to occur for the past two years, Fiori feels that “just being able to have the concert is something fortunate to do given the circumstances.”
Student reactions to the choice of performer varied following FUSA’s reveal.
First-year Jennifer Pena isn’t concerned with who is playing and says, “I’m just ready for a good concert. It honestly doesn’t matter who’s performing.”
Other students are equally as eager just to be attending the concert, since last year’s Red Sea Madness event was canceled.
“I’m super excited for Red Sea Madness to be back, especially because we didn’t get to experience it freshman year,” says sophomore Elizabeth Decrisanti.
Other students genuinely enjoy Flo Rida’s music and appreciate him as a performer.
First-year Sam Flores says, “I’ve never seen him perform live, so I’m very excited to see what he brings to the stage.”
“I’m also looking forward to hearing some great throwbacks like ‘Low’ and ‘Wild Ones’. I think it’ll be a really fun time,” Flores added.
Junior Renee Levesque is another fan of Flo Rida.
“I’m really excited for Flo Rida,” she says.
“I think he has a lot of well-known songs that are fun to sing and dance to,” Levesque continues, “so I’m looking forward to a fun concert with a high-energy crowd.”
FUSA’s Facebook page posted that Fairfield students will get “exclusive access to the Flo Rida concert” and to “stay tuned for further details.”
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