by Gabriella DePinho, Editor-in-Chief
Issac Slade, the lead singer of rock band The Fray, will be headlining Spring Fest on Apr. 4. Slade will be singing the band’s songs, with backing from other musicians.
Out of the eight artists posted to the Office of Student Engagement’s Instagram account on Dec. 6, The Fray received the most votes, totaling 284 votes. Former American Idol Winner Jordan Sparks came in second, falling behind The Fray by 60 votes.
“Michael [Steele] and student government put out a vote to the student body and then that’s used to form our general consensus where we say, hey these two, three artists are at the top of our list, what is their viability to come here?” said John Bennett, executive director of the Office of Student Engagement.
Before the vote can happen, a list of artists has to come together somehow.
“To get to that point, I work with student government to get a list of artists from the agent, which is usually about 20 to 30 artists, and then we condense it to about seven to 10 to put out to the student body,” said Michael Steele, assistant director of the Office of Student Engagement.
Bennett confirmed that all artists put out for the vote were feasible in terms of price range and getting them to campus.
Though not every student may be an Instagram user or know about the voting process, the votes are still considered a good measure of the student body’s interest.
“It’s not scientific but it gives a general feel, which is why we start with the top two or three artists,” Bennett said. “We have a couple hundred people vote. You could really extrapolate that and the percentages are going to remain the same.”
The Fray may not be a part of everyone’s favorite genre of music, but according to Ryan Kwiecinski, the executive vice president of student government, students can still expect to have a good time.
“Personally, it is not a genre of music I usually listen to. I am more of a hip-hop and rock/grunge fan. However, I think that a lot of people will like the throwback atmosphere that the concert will have,” Kwiecinski wrote in an email to The Quadrangle.
While the headliner is only Slade, rather than the full band, students can still expect him to sing all the hits they know and love, such as “Over My Head (Cable Car),” “How to Save a Life,” and “You Found Me.”
“Issac [Slade] is the biggest name we’ve ever had here because even the contract says The Fray and it just doesn’t say Issac’s name,” Bennett said. “So it’ll be Issac and other musicians, which is, for all intents and purposes, The Fray.”
This year’s Spring Fest will differ from last year’s event in a few ways. Last year’s Spring Fest saw three headliners, but this year’s student government executive board decided to streamline the event.
“We don’t plan on having three different performances by artists, and because of that, [it] will be a little earlier than last year’s Spring Fest,” wrote Kaylyn Atkins, the student body president, in an email to The Quadrangle.
However, the board does not want the fun to start and end with the 1 p.m. concert.
“We have been working hard to add more to the day so that it isn’t just the concert and then people leave. We want to create a fun atmosphere on campus that extends through the whole day,” wrote Kwiecinski.
Confirmed by Kwiecinski and Atkins, one of the shakeups to the day’s lineup includes food trucks instead of a barbeque on the quad. The board has other surprises in store for the student body that they will not reveal just yet.
“This year’s Spring Fest is going to be a Spring Fest weekend, meaning that there will be something to do every day that weekend,” wrote Atkins. “That being said, the executive board and I do have a huge surprise that will be available for all students that weekend of Spring Fest.”