After months of advertising and a unique collaboration between UApresents and the Associated Students of the University of Arizona, officials announced last night that “”An Evening with The Fray,”” a concert set for Wednesday, Nov. 18, has sold out.
UApresents publicity manager Mario Di Vetta said that by Thursday afternoon only five scattered tickets were available overall, in the balcony section of Centennial Hall. By the close of business hours Thursday, all 2,400 tickets had been sold, he said.
“”It’s great,”” Di Vetta said. “”We wanted this venture (with ASUA) to be successful, and ASUA has proven that it can be successful.””
The rapid sale of tickets has led organizers to speculate as to why this concert is apparently more successful than last spring’s disastrous Jay-Z concert, which set ASUA back around $1 million.
“”There are a number of factors as to why this concert has already proven to be such a success. It’s early on in the year — so it’s fresh in everyone’s minds — and the primary push for ticket sales has been on campus,”” Di Vetta said. The majority of marketing by ASUA has been through email, Facebook and posters, he said.
ASUA’s Katy Perry concert in February of 2009 was also held in Centennial Hall, which seats 2,500, and was sold out before the event. Last year, the Last Blast Platinum Bash concert was in the Arizona Stadium, which has the potential to seat over 56,000.
ASUA President Chris Nagata said, “”We’ve proven to have a better track record and more experience when planning a concert in Centennial Hall. For us, the risk of this show is less than putting on a show at a larger venue, with a larger number of seats and tickets to sell.””
When asked whether, given last spring’s failure, ASUA should take such a large risk again he said, “”You have to weigh out the amount of risk. We wanted a low risk show with The Fray and great success, and we’ve already accomplished this.””
Caleb Wilson, media arts sophomore and executive special events coordinator for ASUA, attributed the success to other reasons.
“”I think it varies on the popularity of the artist, the price of tickets, the time you have to market such an event and the overall message you want to convey on a local or national level. In fact, that is a statistic I am letting the student body interpret via my revised survey set to send out next week,”” Wilson said.
With 20 days left to spare, both organizations say they will no longer need to focus on promoting, but instead on the preparations to make the night even more successful.
“”Essentially we will work alongside UApresents, fulfilling the contract requirements that The Fray have cited that they need before, during, and after the show,”” Wilson said.
