Hip-hop artist B.o.B. performed his Grammy award winning hits “Nothin’ On You” and “Airplanes, Part II” along with fellow hip-hop artist Playboy Trey in front of an audience of approximately 1,800 on Saturday at Cintas Center for the Student Activities Council spring concert.
SAC chose the hip-hop show, which lasted more than two hours and featured Joe West as an opening act, after assessing student interest in various musical genres at multiple forums throughout the academic year.
According to some of the estimated 1,100 students in attendance, the choice was successful.
“The show was really good, I thought,” senior Pat Schmidt said. “It was a lot of fun when he played his hit songs, but even his other songs were fun. The atmosphere was great in there.”
Dustin Lewis, assistant director of Student Involvement, said he was pleased with the turnout, which included an estimated 1,208 people attedning the show with tickets bought by students, helping to fill the lower bowl of the arena.
However, Lewis said the 1,208 figure was a “misnomer,” since students could purchase tickets for friends and relatives. As a result, Lewis said the actual student attendance was likely around 1,100.
“We understood that hip-hop was a tougher sell in this area than something like [pop artist] Jason Mraz,” Lewis said. “But since we had such a strong student response in favor of hip-hop we were pleased to be able to book B.o.B., and I think the students enjoyed the show.”
According the Lewis, SAC gauged student interest by working with websites that specialize in concert booking and switching to a new booking agency. While Lewis noted that using an agency increased the price of the concert, SAC was still able to remain with its budget for the concert.
The B.o.B. concert was the first spring concert held in Cintas Center since 2009, when SAC hosted Ben Folds in February and Low vs. Diamond, Matt Nathanson and Jack’s Mannequin in April. Last year, SAC brought Talib Kweli, Hi-Tek and J. Cole for a free concert on April 22 on the greenspace.