Third Eye Blind caps busy year of concerts and courting of bands.
By Crystal Luong
News Assistant
Amid a crowd packed with energy, Third Eye Blind rocked Firestone Fieldhouse Saturday night before a Pepperdine community of more than 1,500.
In the only West Coast appearance of its tour, the multi-platinum rock band played a set featuring new songs from their upcoming album, “Out of the Vein,” and a mixture of crowd favorites from the past.
“West Coast fans are my people,” said Brad Hargreaves, drummer for Third Eye Blind. “We try to make it feel honest and real every night.”
As the concert kicked off, lead singer Stephan Jenkins prepared the audience to be ready for the new and different material they would play.
“You have to be interested in doing different things with each other, but that’s what college is about, right?” Jenkins said.
The new sounds of Third Eye Blind were a representation of the group’s cumulative work.
“Now that we’ve made three records, you can see the threads that run through all of them,” Hargreaves said. “It’s a continuation of what we do. Third Eye Blind definitely has a distinct sound since our first record.”
The close-knit atmosphere that Firestone Fieldhouse provided also created positive impressions on the band.
“We play a lot of big shows, but oddly enough, I enjoy the small shows (like the Fieldhouse),” Hargreaves said. “Everyone can feel like they’re a part of the show.”
The opening act for Third Eye Blind was the up and coming band AM Radio, in the process of completing their second to last show on a one-and-a-half month long tour.
AM Radio lead singer Kevin Ridel described the band’s sound as “melodic rock, ‘60s British invasion, with an ‘80s new wave influence.”
Ridel said opening for Third Eye Blind was symbolic because his former band was supposed to open for them in 1997. However, their small venue concert was canceled the day of the show as Third Eye Blind hit it big on the airwaves.
Many in the audience enjoyed AM Radio’s opening performance.
“I liked the opening act a lot, almost better than Third Eye Blind,” freshman Timothy Byrne said.
Other stars spotted at the concert included singer Vanessa Carlton and a STAR 98.7 radio personality. Whether members of Weezer attended to support AM Radio, as first advertised by concert committee officials, could not be confirmed.
To Jimmy Hutcheson, concert committee chair, the year’s second major concert event ran smoothly.
“We’ve demonstrated to administration that this was successful by the attendance, the positive student feedback and feedback from other administrators that attended,” Hutcheson said.
Dean of Student Affairs Dr. Mark Davis agreed.
“I enjoyed seeing all the student volunteers working together with the Student Activities staff to support this major production,” Davis said. “They worked tirelessly, professionally and made a great impression on the production staff.”
To have Third Eye Blind play at Pepperdine required a process of roughly three months of planning and promotions on the part of the concert committee.
A total of 500 posters and 10,000 flyers, costing the committee $1,200, were printed as part of event publicity.
According to David Brooks, the committee’s promotional director and the concert assistant director of operations, a main part of the promotion was focused on campus and an emphasis was made to reach out to graduate and commuter students as well.
On event day, committee members and volunteers began setup at 6 a.m. Saturday. For many, serving on the concert staff lasted through clean up, ending at roughly 3:30 a.m. Sunday.
Thirty staff volunteers were present at any given time on the day of the concert.
“All of the volunteers were awesome and it’s not like they were getting a whole lot out of it, maybe just a free ticket,” Brooks said. “I’m still amazed at how dedicated everyone is.”
Though the concert capacity was 2,500 people, not meeting the full ticket sales goal did not result in a budget deficit for the committee.
The addition of ticket sales on the Internet played a huge role and www.pepsga.com will continue to be used as a sales venue for future events, Hutcheson said.
In all, 500 ticket orders were placed online and the Web site accrued more than 2,400 hits.
In the coming weeks, the concert committee will evaluate its investments in hosting big concerts on campus. The committee plans on getting student input through possible surveys and focus groups for student concerns and suggestions.
Davis anticipates that the student leaders will review plans of operation.
“I heard disappointment that the ticket sales goals were not met and that the concert attracted more community members than students,” Davis said. “I know next year’s SGA leaders will review whether the investment of so much money and time was worth it for the number of students who attended.”
Student feedback for the concert was primarily positive from all aspects.
“I thought it was amazing,” freshman Misty Day said.
During Third Eye Blind’s set, a mosh pit formed on the front left section of the general floor. Byrne enjoyed the atmosphere.
“At first, it was just a bunch of people in the crowd,” he said. “People started jumping around and it was fun.”
Though there were no major security issues with the concert, there was a report of one female audience member who had sustained wrist injuries due to the pushing from the mosh pit and had to be moved to safety.
Hutcheson said medical staff was on hand to assist immediately.
“It’s a rock concert, so these things happen,” he said. “We had very thorough preparations, however.”
For next year, the concert committee has plans to continue hosting big concert events on campus.
Davis supports the initiative.
“I’m still supportive of bringing major concerts to campus,” Davis said. “I liked how AM Radio’s lead singer encouraged the crowd to ‘Keep it positive.’ This is an excellent guiding principle for selecting future bands.”
Hargreaves sees a bright outlook for major Pepperdine concerts. He said, “It’s a beautiful campus and I’m sure you won’t have a hard time finding bands that want to come out here and play.”
The committee hopes the Pepperdine community will continue to support major concerts.
“The only way this can continue is if people are supportive of it and buy tickets,” Brooks said.
Hutcheson also said the committee welcomes new members who may be interested in working on future concerts.
A “Waves of Mercy” concert has already been set for Sept. 13.
April 03, 2003