By Bianca Strzelczyk

As the last students left Matthews Arena and the tour buses drove off, members of the Council for University Programs stopped holding their breath, having just pulled off the first Springfest concert in two years.

Despite a last minute change in the line-up, as Mos Def was traded for the Dropkick Murphys, Erin Dayharsh, CUP’s advisor, said the line-up was successful.

“I think it turned out great,” she said. “I’m just happy it happened, and it went very well.”

The group worked hard to put the concert together and make it the best it possibly could be, said CUP concert chair Josh Pratt said.

“In the end, the band choices were pretty much out of our hands,” he said.

An estimated 3,000 out of 4,000 tickets were purchased for this year’s show and although it was opened to non-Northeastern students, there was still an overwhelming Northeastern majority, Dayharsh said.

Additionally, for the first time CUP put ticket sales online; however, there was some confusion about when and where to pick up the tickets, said Allyson Savin, CUP president.

Even with the confusion, the option proved to be convenient for Danielle Ouellette, a freshman journalism major.

“It was nice and easy to buy them,” Ouellette said.

CUP was also originally looking to sell tickets the day of the show, but because of security reasons the city refused to allow this.

“They wanted to give security some breathing room,” Pratt said. “It was out of [our] control.”

The group is hoping for day-of ticket sales for the next big concert, Savin said.

However, Associate Director of Public Safety James Ferrier said allowing ticket sales the day of an event would leave too many unknowns, specifically the number of students that will attend the show, making it difficult to control the crowd and keep everyone safe, he said.

Ferrier also said it was “pretty much an uneventful concert from a security perspective.” However, there were a couple of isolated incidents, specifically involving the confiscation of cameras.

Signs on arena doors stated cameras would not be permitted inside. Students who brought cameras had the option of giving up their camera, leaving it with members of CUP or returning home.

Maxence Gorr