On Feb. 19, ASPC President Jed Cullen received a notification that there was only one ticket remaining for the upcoming Lupe Fiasco concert in Bridges Auditorium.
It took just 16 days for the Chicago-based artist to sell out all 2,450 seats in Big Bridges, an accomplishment fellow hip-hop artist Ludacris, who played the same venue last January, did not match.
Cullen said the strong marketing campaign for the Fiasco concert as well as significantly cheaper tickets probably accounted for the difference. Fiasco tickets cost only $20, while a ticket to last year’s Ludacris concert sold at $35 or $45.
Fiasco may also be more popular among the 5-C student population. Cullen said Fiasco appeared most often in students’ top three requested artists on ASPC’s music survey last semester—a survey intended to garner student opinion on who to bring to campus, which yielded about 1,100 results in just over two days. Cullen also said comments on the survey consistently expressed the belief that Fiasco is “a socially conscious rapper with a good message.”
“I suspect Lupe is more of an appeal to the high school [or] young 19 to 20 year-old college-age kids,” said Jim Nauls, Claremont McKenna’s assistant dean of students and director of student activities.
Based on the ticket sales, Friday’s concert should be one of the fullest houses at a Pomona College event in recent memory. It also marks the first American date of Lupe Fiasco’s “Steppin’ Lasers” world tour in support of his forthcoming LP, We Are Lasers.
Opening acts will be Atlanta-based rapper B.o.B. and New York City hip-hop artist Anthem.