Meet the Tar Heel trying to get the Chainsmokers to UNC
He’s already gotten in contact with someone in the booking department but CUAB is skeptical
JP Hussey is a junior here at UNC with a plan for our spring concert. You’ve probably already seen his Facebook event, created at the beginning of October to draw interest for the Chainsmokers to perform at UNC in April.
He said, “I was just walking around one day on campus, just listening to shuffle and then the Chainsmokers came on. I was like damn, having them come for our spring concert would be really cool.”
He posted a status, and his friends encouraged him to make a Facebook event. After only eight days, JP had over 3,000 people going, interested, and invited to his Facebook event. People who don’t even go to Carolina have told him that they would travel to see the band perform.
JP, far left, did not expect such a massive response
“Basically, I’m doing all that I can to find people to get in contact with to try and get them to come for our Jubilee spring concert,” JP said.
And that he is. The night that he made the page, JP reached out to the Wake Forest Student Union director. Wake had the Chainsmokers perform there before, so he thought that was a good place to start. A few people also reached out to him who had weird connections to the band. He sent several emails to initiate the process.
JP ended up getting in contact with someone who works in the Chainsmokers’ booking department, and then he began to text the Chainsmokers’ videographer.
“He was like if you can flesh out what you have, what you can provide and what your budget is, I can get you in contact with the manager and you guys can talk about it on your own,” JP said.
Now, he’s reaching out to the Carolina Union and Activities Board (CUAB) to find out details on UNC’s budget, infrastructure and other specifics. CUAB responded to him early in the process, mentioning that they had already sent out a student survey for the spring concert.
“They were like ‘we have to stay true to what the students want, and EDM was low on the list of what students want,'” JP said.
He responded to CUAB, saying that while he understands that, the Chainsmokers don’t classify as what students think of when they hear “EDM”. Also, JP said that the survey represented one part of the student population, but the 3,000 engagements on Facebook represents another.
As for now, he’s in a bit of a stalemate. He knows he needs to meet with CUAB, but its a matter of coordinating a time to do so. He thinks realistically, this concert could actually happen.
“It’s ultimately going to come down to whether they’re willing to come for the concert, and whether we have it in the budget to have them here.”
Both of those factors are out of JP’s hands, but he promises to do all that he can to make it happen.