By Hailey MacDonald, Editor-in-Chief
On Friday, March 12, students gathered around the University Commons, eagerly awaiting the anticipated announcement of who would be performing at the 2021 Spring Event. The Spring Event team has been working hard since the fall semester to find the way to make this event the best it can be.
As the months turned into days and the minutes turned into seconds, the group was excited to release the name of the main artist, as well as the names of the opening artists, to the campus community,
The weather couldn’t have been better as the sun shone and light winds gusted around campus that afternoon. Blue Chip Creamery provided ice cream to students that attended the event — who doesn’t love free ice cream?
“People that came enjoyed the lawn games and free stuff and prizes,” commented sophomore Kyle Nelson, the Director of Logistics and Operations for the Spring Event team.
The Spring Event Team was excited to announce that Lee Brice will be performing a live show for the University, with special guests Maddie & Tae as the opening act. Their names were spelled out on sheets of paper through the windows of the University Commons.
“I feel as though people liked how different it was when we released the artist,” said Nelson, who was excited about using this method for the release of the artists’ names. The executive board members also had shirts with a letter of Brice’s name spelled out on their backs.
Clarice Berardinelli, a junior Arts & Entertainment Management major and the Chair of the Spring Event, shared that this was a different element to the release party than the group has traditionally done in the past.
“We opted not to do a hype video like years past just because we all have much higher screen time than normal,” she says. Bringing in something different than what was normally done provided the campus with even more of a surprise.
Lee Brice is an American Country singer and songwriter who has been releasing music for decades. Over time, he has been awarded a handful of accolades and has also had eight #1 country singles. In 2010, his single “Love Like Crazy” was the top country song of the year, according to the Billboard Year-End.
In 2013, he won the Country Music Association Award for Song of the Year for one of his most popular songs, “I Drive Your Truck.” He won the Academy of Country Music Award for Song of the Year in both 2012 and 2014 for his tracks “Crazy Girl” and “I Drive Your Truck,” respectively.
In addition, in 2015, he was awarded the Single of the Year Award from Academy of Country Music for “I Don’t Dance,” which was released in 2014. Most recently, he won the Country Music Association Award for Musical Event of the Year for the single “I Hope You’re Happy Now,” which also features Carly Pearce. This award is given to two artists who collaborate on a single, and this song was a hit.
“Personally I’m extremely excited for Lee Brice and Maddie & Tae. The campus hasn’t had country in a while so I think it will be a nice change and something to look forward to!” commented Nelson, who is a big fan of country music himself.
Berardinelli is very excited about the artist, despite the current state of the COVID-19 pandemic and the limitations it has on the event. However, Berardinelli finds the bright side. “Both Lee Brice and Maddie & Tae aren’t normally experiences we’d be able to provide students, so while the situation we’re in isn’t ideal, it definitely gave us more opportunities,” she says.
The Spring Event team is working hard to make this year’s event the best it can possibly be, despite the challenges that COVID-19 still poses on our campus. As of now, it has been announced that there will be various streams of the live performances around campus on the day of the event.
Stay tuned for more information about what’s in store for the day of the event!
