By Michael Gsovski
The Daily Northwestern
Leaning against his rolled-up sleeping bag in a packed McCormick Auditorium in Norris, Austin Perry said there was one thing that led him and his two "compatriots" to spend the night on the Norris lawn Monday night.
"Pure dedication," the Weinberg freshman said. "Now that I'm here and I see the hungry eyes of this mass of people, I really feel validated."
Perry and his friends were first in line to get tickets for a Flight of the Conchords concert sponsored by A&O Production's speakers program. The concert will be held March 6 in Cahn Auditorium.
The band, which bills itself as a digi-folk parody duo, stars in a self-titled HBO show. One thousand tickets went on sale at 10:30 a.m. Monday. By 11:15 a.m., they had sold out.
Earlier this quarter, 600 tickets to B.J. Novak's Feb. 16 A&O performance set a record, selling out Ryan Family Auditorium in 45 minutes.
A&O chairman Alex White was impressed by the reaction, noting that the last student to receive her ticket arrived at Norris at 8:15 a.m., more than two hours before tickets went on sale.
"I called back the chairman when I was a freshman and other than (acts like) Kanye or Jeff Tweedy, tickets always sold out in the first week or couple of days, not in the first hour or few hours," the SESP senior said.
"I think that when we had Girl Talk here in January, that quick sellout got people to change their mind-set."
A&O had to open McCormick to seat those in line, a tactic also used during the sale of Kanye West tickets in 2005. Many students took the time sitting in one seat to attentively work despite the early hour.
In an e-mail later Monday, White said those caught scalping would be fined up to $5,000 under state law and WildCARDs would be checked at the door.
Students kept streaming into McCormick until 9:15 a.m., leaving many grumbling. One group of students complained that those who slept overnight had cut to the front of the line.
2008 Woodie Awards
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Viewing Comments 1 - 3 of 4
K
posted 2/26/08 @ 11:52 AM CST
With all the demand for tickets, is there any way the concert can be moved to welsh-ryan?
Steve Hall
posted 2/28/08 @ 6:56 PM CST
The problem with the interaction of Welsh-Ryan and the rest of the school is that it runs independently outside of the Athletic Department. Meaning, student groups would get charged rental fees and staffing fees in order to just have access to the building. (Continued…)
Erin
posted 3/10/08 @ 11:12 AM CST
The methods employed by A&O are substandard & unprofessional. This was no way to put on a show.
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