UPB hosted spring concert artist Fetty Wap on Monday in the Aebersold Recreation Center (ARC) to a sold-out crowd of 2,400 students.
Members of Fetty Wap’s record label, RGF Productions, hyped up the crowd before the rapper came on stage to perform some of his hit songs.
Fetty Wap opened with “Boomin’,” a song from his self-titled album. He also performed some of his smash songs such as “RGF Island,” “Again,” “My Way,” “679″ and “Trap Queen.”
Fetty Wap’s right-hand man, Monty, also performed songs from his upcoming mixtape.
Senior environmental science and professional science major Santa Bell said the concert didn’t reach her expectations, but that she had a good time.
She said during the concert, it felt as though Monty was the only person performing.
“I understand that since it’s a college tour and he (Monty) wants to put on so everybody knows who he is, but I expected more from Fetty Wap,” she said.
Although Fetty Wap performed his top hits, Belle said she wished he would have performed “I’m Straight” and “Rewind.”
Senior health science and health care administration major Mack Bean said the concert was purely something for him to do. Bean also said he was expecting a lot more out of Fetty Wap.
“It seemed like it was more of everybody else, except for Fetty,” Bean said. “Whether I made it or not, I probably wouldn’t have been sad.”
Brandon Cannon, senior public relations major and director of concerts and comedians for UPB, said he thinks overall, the event went extremely well. He said the UPB staff was well prepared and organized beforehand. He also said from the performance standpoint, he thinks Fetty Wap did really well.
“I thought the crowd was really into it,” Cannon said.
After several students voiced their opinions last semester after Hunter Hayes was announced as the fall concert, Cannon said UPB definitely heard the students’ voices and they were able to work out a date that worked with Fetty Wap and his management, as well as a day that worked with the ARC. Cannon also said Fetty Wap fell perfectly within UPB’s budget.
Although UPB set a date for the concert in advance, the date for the anticipated concert was switched from the original date, April 11 to April 18. Cannon said the reason for the date change was the routing of Fetty Wap’s tour.
“Sometimes with these tours, they’re routed,” Cannon said. “Especially for smaller colleges shows, they’ll try to do what’s called one-off shows. Right now, Fetty is in the middle of his ‘Monster Energy Tour’ and through that process, they’ll do one-off shows there they break away from the tour and if they’re near a college, they’ll try to get those colleges to have them on campus so they can make some money between their actual tour dates.”
Cannon said where Fetty Wap was initially going to be the day before, the show didn’t match up with the direction that Fetty Wap was heading, so UPB had to change the date.
Hardo, a Pittsburgh-based rap artist, opened for Fetty Wap. Cannon said UPB came across the rapper when Fetty Wap’s agents sent them a list of approved openers, and Hardo was on the list. Cannon said UPB made the decision to bring Hardo because he was a local artist.
Cannon said he expected Fetty Wap to be a big show for UPB. He said UPB projected Fetty Wap tickets to sell out a little bit faster than they did.
“We expected for tickets to sell out in three days, but they sold out in 92 hours, which is still great,” Cannon said.
Cannon said UPB’s main goal was to sell tickets to students, and that tickets were sold out before they could even go out to the general public. Cannon said that is the fastest show that has ever sold out since he’s been the director of concerts and comedians for UPB.
Overall, Belle said she got her money’s worth because $33 for a Fetty Wap ticket is an amazing price, but she also said that she doesn’t think Fetty Wap stayed on the stage long enough.
Towards the end of the concert, Fetty Wap threw out $100 bills to the crowd, causing students to push and shove in hopes of grabbing one.
Belle said the most memorable part of the concert for her was when she actually caught a $100 bill that Fetty Wap threw out.
“I’m 5’1″ and everyone else was super tall, so I just reached my hand out and hoped for the best, and I caught one,” Belle said. “I’m thinking it’s a five or a one, and I saw Ben Franklin, and I was like, ‘okay.’ That came in handy because I was broke.”
Bean said he disliked how the show ended. According to Bean, Fetty Wap just walked off the stage, without a final song or goodbye.
“I’ve been to my fair share of concerts and I can see that he needs more experience in performing in front of people,” Bean said.
