At 7:20 p.m., five minutes before Asher Roth kicked off Commodore Quake, the atmosphere in Memorial Gym was lukewarm at best. Less than a quarter of the seats were filled, giving the gym an empty, lonely look.
Since the announcement of Quake performers in September, many students' dissatisfaction with the line-up hasn’t waned. Roth estimated there were only about a hundred or so students who were present for the beginning of the concert, and some of those expressed reservations.
“I would have liked Pitbull as the opening act,” said freshman Sam Friedman. “I’m way more excited about Jay-Z.”
Freshman Ryan Planchard expressed similar frustration.
“I think it’s a pretty random set list, but it caters to a lot of tastes. It feels like a letdown after Lil' Wayne.”
The energy didn’t seem to pick up much throughout the night. Although several Hustler staff tweets commented on the good quality of music, Memorial Gym struggled to fill up.
“For being ‘sold out’ there sure are a lot of empty seats, especially on the floor,” staff reporter Kirsten Jacobson noted.
Assistant News Editor Joslin Woods said the lack of a crowd affected the atmosphere.
“OAR is playing and there is no one here. The stadium feels empty, not like a concert at all,” she wrote.
And according to staff reports, many concertgoers left after the O.A.R. set, which ended about an hour before Pitbull took the stage at 10:15 p.m.
For some students, there were simply better things to do with their Thursday night.
As Entertainment Editor Charlie Kesslering tweeted: “can't make asher's show, too busy lovin college.”
Sara Gast contributed reporting to this story.
