Students in the 1970s would have been stoked to see a motown performance; while they might not have had the opportunity back then, the time has finally come.The Fairfield University Student Association’s Fall Concert, an annual tradition, will be hosting the Temptations Review as well as Matt and Kim, at Rafferty Stadium during Alumni and Family Weekend on Oct. 24 and 25.
The decision to headline Matt and Kim and the Temptations Review was to appeal to all age ranges that will be on campus during Alumni and Family Weekend. This concert is a joint project between FUSA and the Advancement Office as part of the new Fairfield Rising Campaign, using the concert to promote Fairfield’s latest fundraising effort.
What will also hope to draw a crowd to this concert is that tickets are free for all Fairfield students because of FUSA’s work with the Advancement Office. Tickets are also free for alumni and parents, but only with the purchase of one of the available packages.
“You want to be able to provide to everybody and get more students to come, and make sure the alumni know that students are still getting involved,” said Anif McDonald ‘16, president of FUSA.
McDonald said in regard to booking The Temptations Review, “Everyone knows The Temptations, everyone knows ‘My Girl,’ everyone knows all those songs. We thought that it was a universal thing … it would be a lot of fun and appeal to all ages, because that’s what Alumni and Family Weekend is about.”
As for Matt and Kim, the survey response toward the Brooklyn music group was largely positive. While it was not the first overall choice response from the survey, it was the highest rated group by Fairfield students that was available for booking.
Senior Molly Gregory stated, “I’m so excited to finally have a real concert to go to; one that features live music and real musicians.”
“I think it’ll be much more of an actual concert experience than concerts from years past which will result in a much more positive experience from students overall,” Gregory said.
To appeal to the large number of both older and younger people that are projected to attend the Fall Concert, the time of the show has been made earlier. Instead of the usual evening concert that was common in previous years, this year’s concert will be held during the day, at 2:30 p.m. The decision to host the Fall Concert at Rafferty Stadium was due to both the positive response to having a concert outdoors, as well as the chance to show the alumni the final result of what their outpouring of donations built. “There was a big donation made, so working with Advancement we were able to have a ‘you gave to us, now we can give back to you’ type of atmosphere,” said McDonald.
Another pressing reason for having this concert at Rafferty is that it is the only place on campus equipped to hold such large numbers of attendees as FUSA and the Alumni Association are predicting.
An additional attraction noted earlier is the inclusion of food trucks and a beer garden for those over 21 years old in attendance. Packages include for Fairfield students 21 and over: one concert ticket, two food truck vouchers and a beer garden package for $15; for alumni and family: one concert ticket and three food truck vouchers for $18; and a beer garden package that includes a commemorative mug and two beer tickets for $12. Thus far, FUSA has sold 60 of the 21+ Student Concert Ticket with Beer Garden packages and 330 of the Alumni and Family Concert Ticket and Food packages. 500 of the Free Student Concert Tickets have been sold so far.
This was done to offer more of an incentive for seniors living at the beach to come and enjoy the concert, but also as an acknowledgement that “parents and alumni, and students who are of age enjoy having a good beer every now and then,” said McDonald.
To combat underage drinking at the concert, G-Force security will be monitoring the area and those concert attendees who are over 21 will be required to wear a wristband in order to get into the beer garden, much like the rules in place at Clam Jam.
There have been some mixed reviews from the Fairfield student community over the choice of the concert. Freshman William Gildersleeve is excited to see his first concert as a Fairfield student. “That’s pretty sweet,” he said. “It’s something to do and definitely something to look forward to.”
However, Nicole Fede ‘16 expressed her displeasure at the headliners for the Fall Concert, saying “Jason Derulo and Maroon 5 came here a few years ago and so I’m a little disappointed in the fact that we can’t get a performer of that same caliber here for the four years I’ve been here.”
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