UPB announces Hunter Hayes for fall concert

UPB revealed Hunter Hayes as their fall concert Tuesday during common hour, which put some students in an uproar over the decision.

Director of Concerts and Comedians for UPB, Ryan Hreczkosiej, said the organization chose Hunter Hayes as their fall concert based on the price and availability of the artist.

“Hunter Hayes was the best fit for Slippery Rock and the timing was just right for UPB as a group,” Hreczkosiej said. “Also, we do a survey over the summer. UPB doesn’t ultimately choose the artist that comes to Slippery Rock, the students do and Hunter Hayes was the most favorable artist on the survey, which is why we targeted him.”

Other artists that UPB was considering were Fetty Wap, Schoolboy Q, Jeremih, Parachute and Switchfoot. Hreczkosiej said there was a broad range of music genres because he wanted to provide a variety artists for students to choose from.

“There’s a lot of diversity on campus, so we want to students to have choices,” he said.

Sophomore athletic training major, Tiana Harper was one of the students upset that the concert wasn’t Fetty Wap. She said every student’s dreams were kind of shattered when they realized Fetty Wap wasn’t the fall concert choice. She said everyone on campus listens to Fetty Wap and there were rumors going around that he was the concert choice for the fall.

Ultimately, Harper said she feels as though UPB made the wrong choice for the concert. She said she feels as though they didn’t base the concert choice off the student’s interest.

“We have a very diverse campus and I’ve heard every person you can think of listens to Fetty [Wap],” Harper said. “If they’re looking for a large amount of ticket sales, they’re not going to find them here.”

In response to the students who were upset that Fetty Wap wasn’t chosen as the concert choice, Hreczkosiej said selecting a performer for any concert is a strenuous process. When it came to this particular concert, he said after analyzing the concert survey that students were asked to take, the concerts committee settled on Hunter Hayes. He encouraged students who are interested to join the concerts and comedians committee of UPB.

Hreczkosiej said UPB would like to sell 1,500 tickets for the concert. He said since UPB did a lot of marketing and advertising, hopefully the show will be attractive to students and the community as a whole and will bring in a nice crowd of people.