Matt Nathanson and Carbon Leaf drew 300 students to the George Sherman Union’s Metcalf Hall for the Programming Council’s fall concert, which organizers expected to draw 1,500.

Organized by PC only for BU students, the event was the biggest concert scheduled to be held this semester.

Only 50 people had arrived before the doors opened at 8 p.m., but PC Concerts Manager Jackie Baydar said she was not concerned.

“It’s slow at the beginning, but we’re expecting a good turnout,” the College of General Studies sophomore said at the time.

When Nathanson hit the stage, there were several hundred students.

“We’re going to play mostly Nick Lachey songs,” he joked.

Before playing a new song, he took a few minutes to read from a trashy romance novel while the band jammed in the background.

On several occasions, his songs would morph into covers, including “Jessie’s Girl,” “Walk on the Wild Side” and “I Want You to Want Me.”

The singer poked fun at the venue itself, calling Metcalf “kind of like a Bar Mitzvah hall.”

School of Education sophomore Suman Krishnan said the venue “wasn’t as awkward as I thought it would be.” She and her two friends, SED sophomore Danielle Beneville and CGS sophomore Ghamar Taraz, had waited in line since 6:30 p.m.

Krishnan said she heard Nathanson’s songs on a mixed CD three years ago and “dragged [her] friends along to his show at the Paradise [Rock Club] last year.”

Both bands took the time to interact with fans, signing albums, posing for photos and chatting casually.

According to Baydar, PC originally used a Facebook.com survey of BU students to choose a fall act. On learning that Nathanson and Carbon Leaf were touring, they contacted the artist’s booking agent.