Super Mash Bros. sell out shows

Super Mash Bros. played to not one, but two sold-out crowds Saturday night at Boston University in a mashup of entertainment and charity engineered by BU fraternity Sigma Alpha Mu.

The Student Activities Center gym rocked Saturday as the Super Mash Bros., a music mashup project made up of Nick Fenmore and Dick Fink, performed two shows, at 8:30 p.m. and midnight, for 1,800 fans. Sigma Alpha Mu raised an unprecedented $8,019.09 for the Judy Gelfand Alzheimer Researcher Fund through proceeds from the show.’

‘This is the biggest Greek event I’ve seen since I’ve worked here,’ SAO Program Coordinator Su Bartlett said.’

Originally, only one show had been planned, Sigma Alpha Mu president Kyle Dardashti said. But it sold out in less than an hour and a half after tickets went on sale on Nov. 2. A second show was announced and tickets went on sale last Sunday, and by Friday it was sold out as well.’

Sigma Alpha Mu, nicknamed Sammy, had lofty goals for the event, Dardashti, an School of Management senior, said.’

‘We had four goals,’ he said. ‘To have a concert to unite Greeks with non-Greeks, our event to be sold out, support the Judy Fund and to give BU the best concert since Girl Talk.”

The $8,019.09 that the fraternity raised is considered a very large amount, Bartlett said. Last year’s SAO philanthropy of the year award winner, the fraternity Chi Phi, raised about $1,200 out of a total of over $70,000 raised by Greek Life collectively last year, Bartlett said.’

The concert was part of Sammy’s efforts to reinvent its image, fraternity brother Julian Jensen said. The fraternity reactivated its BU chapter in November 2007 after it had been inactive since the early 1990s, Jensen, a College of Communication sophomore, said.

‘We want to do something for BU that hasn’t been done by a fraternity,’ he said. ‘We wanted to throw BU a concert . . . We want to make a statement. We’re done being the small guy.’

Jensen said they also wanted to ‘remix’ non-Greek students’ view of Greek life.’

‘Dean [of Students Kenneth] Elmore’s theme of the year is ‘remix,” he said. ‘We thought this concert goes perfect with that.’

Students were abuzz with anticipation for the back-to-back dance party. Before the show, people bought glow sticks from fraternity brothers as they stood in line.’ Crowds of students delayed traffic as they left the show at the end of the night.

The mash-up act was in high demand, even by those who weren’t familiar with their music. On Facebook, students sought extra concert tickets to the sold-out shows.

Northeastern University sophomore Will O’Hara paid an extra $5 for his ticket after he missed the original sales.’

‘Someone posted an extra ticket on Facebook,’ he said. ‘I paid $20.”

Students said they were excited to see a nationally known group perform.

‘Their popularity is increasing so fast,’ College of Arts and Sciences sophomore and Los Angeles native Katharine Gallagher said. ‘They’re huge in California.”

Even Dean Elmore could not resist celebrating the Super Mash Bros. performance at BU this weekend.’

‘Remixes leaking from my ears and glosticks blasting my eyes- Super Mash Bros. Got us groovin’ in the SAC gym,’ Elmore said on his Twitter.’

Students began lining up in the rain for the second show at 11 p.m., an hour before doors opened. Some of them said they had already heard about the first round.

‘I heard the first show was so good,’ SMG sophomore Alexa Mauro said.’

Crowds leaving both shows said they enjoyed the show.

‘I don’t know anyone in Sammy, but they’re my new best friends,’ CAS junior Jeremy Conlin joked.’

College of General Studies freshman Jamie Leffert called the show ‘awesome.”

‘We were right in the front row and it was invigorating,’ she said. ‘There was so much energy. I loved it. They’re really good, and they don’t imitate Girl Talk. They’re unique.’