The Spaulding Gymnasium was packed with students and community members on Friday, April 28, all in attendance to see Keene State College’s (KSC) Spring Concert, headlined by Mac Miller.
The concert was the first show of Miller’s world tour and was opened by Travis Porter, a hip-hop group from Georgia.
Several students made it clear they were happy with Mac Miller as this year’s Spring Concert.
Jake Paquin / Photo Editor
KSC student John Cagno said although this wasn’t his first time seeing Mac Miller perform live, he was still just as enthusiastic for the show.
“I’ve seen Mac [Miller] twice, so it was really cool to have a big name artist at Keene and I was really excited about it,” Cagno said.
It was a sold out show with a total of 1,664 tickets sold, which was maximum capacity, according to Concert Coordinator Bethany Peterson.
Bethany added that in past years, it’s normal for 200 or 300 tickets to end up not being scanned in at the concert for a variety of reasons. This year, however, only about 70 tickets weren’t scanned in, so Bethany said it was a good turnout.
While the number of people in attendance tends to reflect the excitement for the performer, there was also a small problem that affected some of the members of the crowd.
During and after Travis Porter’s performance, crowd members were being crushed and becoming overheated due to the rowdiness of those further back in the crowd.
Spring Concert Security Coordinator Tim Peterson said the issue people in the front of the crowd were dealing with is one that happens every year and is something that’s hard to avoid.
“That’s always an issue that we run into. There’s no realistic way to solve it once and for all. When you pack about 1,500 people into a confined space and they’re all excited for what’s going on and start to push forward, it’s not one person that’s doing it. It’s close to a thousand people, if not more,” Tim said. “Telling people to push back helps temporarily mitigate the situation, however it’s not necessarily a solvable problem by measures that would still retain the enjoyable aspects of the concert.”
Tim said there are always problems that arise, but overall, “the concert went well and security was certainly a part of that.”
President of the Social Activities Council Bryanna Pearson said the process of preparing for such a big event is one that takes several months to do, but Pearson was happy with the final product.
As far as the show itself, some students, even those who aren’t fans of rap music, thought Mac Miller was an excellent choice for the concert.
KSC student Travis Healey said he’s not a fan of rap music, but he’s excited to see Miller regardless.
KSC student Meghan D’Amours said she’s mostly a fan of country music, but was “so excited.”
Another KSC student, Miranda Randone, who said she considers herself a big Mac Miller fan, said it was “amazing” that KSC was able to get Miller as the Spring Concert.
Randone also added that while Miller was obviously “the real show,” she was expecting Travis Porter to be a great opening act.
“Do you see how many kids are here? We’re all really excited,” Randone said.
Crae Messer can be contacted at cmesser@kscequinox.com