After the cancellation of the Springfest concert and months of anticipation for a replacement show, Busta Rhymes and Method Man played to a little over half-filled Matthews Arena Saturday.
The signs on the windows of Matthews Arena said “sold out” on the day of the concert. The capacity for the show was set at 5,000 students and approximately 3,000 at-tended, said Allyson Savin, president of the Council for University Programs (CUP).
“We wrote sold out so that people wouldn’t question ‘why can’t you sell tickets to me?’ the day of,” said Joshua Pratt, CUP concert chair. “There were still available spots, but some students decided not to buy tickets, and with all the advertising we re-leased we gave them plenty of time to do so … it was sold out, because we weren’t selling any more tickets.”
Although the concert was not able to attract the venue’s maximum capacity, Pratt said the show went “amazingly.”
“Every single student there seemed to enjoy themselves… everyone had a great time helping out and we brought the campus what the students wanted, which was a major concert,” Pratt said. “Even President [Richard] Freeland was excited because he realized that this was what the students wanted.”
Tickets were not sold the day of the event due to safety precautions as well as convenience, Pratt said.
“One of the safety precautions we decided to take was that … we were trying to hold the concert as late as we could because students were coming in later and they had to go through metal detectors and security,” Pratt said. “Selling tickets the day of, we didn’t want to do that because that would be more students trying to get in while the concert was going on.”
Savin said she agreed with Pratt that the concert went “amazingly,” but said the first big event of the year, which the Budget Review Committee (BRC) allocated $250,000 for, will be a learning experience for the next big event. “All of the things from this time are going to be considered for the next big concert,” Savin said. “All of the things we toyed around with this time will be easier and more effective next time.”
Of the $250,000, $36,800 was allocated for predicted security costs, said Allison Barlow, BRC chair. Included in the security plan were Boston Police officers, Northeastern Police officers, ambulance services and Wizard Security, a private security company working the event.
Security details were one of the precautions meant to keep students under control, answering calls from community members and city leaders such as City Councilor Michael Ross.
“It went off without a hitch,” Savin said. “The icing on the cake was that there was no out-lash in the community about a major concert.”
Despite all of the calls for security, some students said they thought the security precautions were too much for a concert.
“They can’t be serious with all this security, why would we riot?,” said Tiffany Boyerse, a junior sociology major. “It’s just something to do for only $5.”
The next major concert event for CUP will be the culmination of Springfest week next semester. Savin said the desire for a different genre for a musical act will be taken into consideration during open planning meetings.
“Obviously we don’t approach the concert thinking of the biggest act we can get,” Savin said. “We approach it thinking of what kind of act the 14,000 students would like to hear, not what’s selling at Virgin Records.”
– Correspondent Dana Mirabella contributed to this report.
