By Madelyn Stone, News Staff
Hip hop, rock and indie music are coming April 14 to this year’s Springfest with artists Nelly, Jack’s Mannequin and Passion Pit.
The Council for University Programming (CUP) announced the headliners March 22, and tickets will be available for $12 on myNEU starting at 9:30 p.m. The show is part of a week of Springfest events like a Q&A with “American Horror Story” actor Evan Peters and trivia challenges that follow the theme “The Husky Games: Challenge Accepted,” a nod to “The Hunger Games” series. The 2012 Springfest concert takes place in Matthews Arena and marks the second time in recent years CUP has decided to feature a variety of genres.
Eric Frankenberg, CUP’s concert chair and a senior music industry major, said the lineup has received a “really great” response so far, since it appeals to a range of music tastes.
“You know we go to a school with 15,000 people so it’s really tough to please everyone,” Frankenberg said. “But I think what we’ve done really well this year and last year is offer a hip hop act, a rock act, an indie act. We sold out faster last year than we ever have before so I’m expecting a really good turnout this year, and the reaction on Facebook and Twitter has been really positive.”
In choosing the show’s lineup, CUP relied on an online survey posted this fall on myNEU. More than 5,000 students took the survey, giving the council a good idea of students’ preferences, Frankenberg said.
“I’m very happy and lucky to say that we were able to stay very very true to the surveys,” Frankenberg said. “A lot of the top vote-getters end up being Adele and Kanye West and Lady Gaga, who we obviously don’t have the budget for, but based on who is affordable and who’s available we were actually able to get some of the top vote-getters from the survey.”
Frankenberg said he thinks students will enjoy Nelly’s performance since so many of his songs have become popular.
“What I think will be really, really awesome about Nelly’s set list is at least half of his set list will be recognizable to everyone at the concert,” he said. “Whereas a lot of the acts that have played in the past play for an hour and it’s really leading up to one song that everyone’s waiting for. But Nelly has so many hits that everyone will be able to say, ‘Oh yeah, I remember that one,’ or ‘That was my favorite song,’ or whatever it is.”
Victoria Vanaria, a freshman business major, said she was not impressed with the choice to include Nelly.
“I think Nelly’s outdated,” she said. “It seems like he was probably cheaper to get so that’s why they got him.”
For Joe Skoniecki, a sophomore digital art major, the best act of the event is Passion Pit.
“I am so excited, actually,” he said. “I love Passion Pit. I’ve been waiting to see them live in concert and this is my chance. I’m only going for them. I’ll be on at 9:30 [p.m.] on the 29th, ready to buy my tickets. Like I have to get there.”
This year’s Springfest is not the first time Boston-based Passion Pit has performed at Northeastern. Frankenberg said he caught their show when the band’s members were still college students.
“My freshman year we had them in afterHOURS before anyone knew who they were,” Frankenberg said. “They were actually an opening act in afterHOURS. So it’s really cool to see them four years later become this popular that they can be one of the co-headliners for Springfest. I’m really excited about that.”
Students can purchase Springfest tickets through the myNEU portal starting at 9:30 tonight.
