Following a series of clues posted on the Keene State College Social Activities Council (SAC) Instagram page, the campus community was on edge, waiting for the announcement of this year’s spring concert headliner.
Students theorized for almost a week, guesses ranging from Big Sean, Drake and even Paramore, before the highly-anticipated announcement at 8 p.m. on March 8 that revealed hip-hop duo Rae Sremmund as the headliner.
The duo, consisting of brothers Swae Lee and Slim Jxmmi, are set to perform at the Spaulding Gym on April 22 as part of Springfest, an annu
Sophomore Ashleigh Moroni, SAC’s publicity coordinator, described the tradition of the Spring Concert and how SAC wanted to bring back more full-scale performances.
“[In the past] we brought Mac Miller, we brought A Boogie wit da Hoodie, Big Sean… the last show I think was 2018,” Moroni said. “It used to be part of a week-long programming where they had a different event every night of the week… we’re doing a two day SpringFest event, similar to how we did last year, but because there’s less restrictions, we’re able to do a concert instead of just a seated show.”
Leading up to the reveal, SAC posted a sequence of videos on its Instagram page with clues hinting at who was performing.
“We’ve been waiting on the contracts and everything to get finished on both our side and Rae Sremmurd’s side… we [couldn’t] announce it until there’s a signed contract,” Moroni said. “We were able to start giving people clues which we did last spring with the comedian too, it was a fun little interactive [set up].”
In addition to signing paperwork, the KSC Student Involvement Office made a poll on its Instagram page asking students and members of the community what they wanted to see regarding the performance.
“In the past, our shows have been historically rap and our Office of Student Involvement put out a poll asking like who and what genre would you want to come through? It’s clear that rap is what the campus wants,” Moroni said.
Moroni said that Rae Sremmurd’s music provides positive energy that SAC was looking to bring with the Spring Concert.
“For us to be successful, we needed a show that was just gonna be an upbeat, good vibe, and Rae Sremmurd brings that,” Moroni said. “I have no clue what their live performance is gonna look like but I know that the vibe is gonna be there, the audience is gonna be hyped up, and I think that is really what we needed for the show.”
Tickets are being sold online at the link included on the ksc_sac Instagram. Tickets are $50 for nonKSC students and $25 for KSC students (one ticket allowed per Student ID and each additional ticket is $50).
Nicole Dumont can be contacted at
ndumont@kscequinox.com
