The experience of the 802.1 concert was disappointing — and not because of Aminé.
As a performer, Aminé did the best the could with what was given to him. And what he got was disorganized logistics, a strange location and poor weather.
Despite all this, Aminé put on a great show for those who braved the rain and cold. His performance and interaction with the crowd was fantastic. But the execution and management of the event was poorly done.
For starters, the last minute change of location was not ideal. I’m sure I’m not the only one who was disappointed and would have much rather gone to the concert in the Fitness and Recreation Center. It was raining a considerable amount, and before long, the Boston University Beach turned to mud: a recipe for disaster.
There was a long line forming in Marsh Plaza before the concert began, but thankfully, it moved quickly. At the entrance we were also handed ponchos, which was a nice gesture.
Danny Diamonds, a junior in the College of Communication, performed one of the show’s opening acts. His performance was decent, and he did hype up the crowd a bit. His constant and obvious use of autotune, however, was a downside.
Diamonds’ sound was generic — he sounded like any other artist on the market. He did exude confidence and appeared to be having a genuinely a good time, though, amping up the audience’s energy.
About a half hour after Diamonds’ performance, a DJ arrived on stage to get everyone excited for Aminé. This is when things took a turn for the worse. The crowd started to mosh, and everyone was trapped. The constant squishing and pushing was overwhelming. Standing in the middle of the crowd, I felt like I couldn’t breathe.
I struggled to get out for 20 minutes. Finally, I emerged from the mosh to stand off to the side, where I had perfect view of the stage. I looked up and noticed students sitting inside the College of Arts and Sciences, watching the concert from the comfort of a classroom. I envied them.
When Aminé finally came out, he completely killed it. He started by showing the YouTube celebrity Rickey Thompson on the screen behind him — iconic. Aminé brought great energy, dance moves and an overall excellent performance.
Aminé opened the concert with “Yellow,” which was a perfect selection. His transitions between songs included small anecdotes about his life and puns relating to the title of the song.
After performing “Yellow,” he said, “I wanna make everyone feel beautiful tonight,” and asked the crowd to say, “I know I am,” every time he said, “You are beautiful.” It was an empowering moment.
There were a few disappointments in Aminé’s performance. His songs were cut in half. His show lasted only about 45 minutes. His performance of his biggest hit “Caroline” was a let down. I expected him to end the show on a high note, but instead he signed off with a slow version of “Caroline.”
The performance of his hit song wasn’t bad, it was just different from my expectations. After this song, Aminé left the stage and ran into Marsh Chapel, and a staff member asked the students to empty out.
By the end of the concert, the lawn was damaged, mud was everywhere, and the BU beach was littered with wrappers and ponchos. It could have been a great concert, but with poor execution and bad management, 802.1 turned into a terrible night.
To top it all off, we learned that Aminé performed at Brandeis University on Sunday — a concert that was free for anyone 18 and older. I could have saved myself the $15 and gone to a well-established and well-managed concert instead.
Wow! Congratulations to Student Government for working tirelessly to bring the FIRST concert to BU. As a past SGA president, I recognize the amount of work that went into planning this event, and the amount of hoops these students had to jump through in order to have this concert. It sounds like they had a lot of last minute changes, and did the best they could with the circumstances. Students worked so hard to get this concert put on for you, it’s disheartening to see this review. For a first time run, it sounds like it went really well. I love that they reached out to students like Danny Diamond to help him get his name
out there. The Daily Free Press should be supporting their readership and uplifting fellow students, not bring them down. Finally, the concert should’ve cost more than $15. Think about how much the performance costs, and the work that went into setting a stage up on the BU beach. Student Government charged other students so that it wouldn’t take away from other student group funds on campus, and they tried keeping it as low as possible. Good on student government!! I am so, so proud to hear how far student government has come to bring the community together.
The real review- Aminé did a fantastic job with what he did but student government did an even better job with the process. Providing ponchos and moving the line quickly made the experience much more enjoyable. I’ll admit the constant pushing and shoving was annoying but moving aside and just enjoying a great view was not a problem. For the first time in a while, BU put on a spring concert and brought a well-known and established artist. I had no problem paying $10* for the concert which is what it costed for students prior to the event. Having the concert outside was perfect and as it should have been. Having a concert in FitRec would’ve been the lamest venue ever and would’ve turned off any future artists. Nothing like putting on a concert on a basketball court while other people are lifting weights above you. If the weather had been better there would have been no issue. Also, Caroline started slow which was interesting then immediately went into the regular version. As far as the litter and grass, have you ever been to a concert before?
I would highly disagree with your review. A majority of the students who I spoke with really enjoyed the concert. There is not one student quote in this review. A shame to see the Freep produce content such as this. Highly disappointing.
Attendee quotes are not very typical of reviews; reviews are written by the critic from the critic’s perspective. You’re welcome to read the FreeP’s news coverage, which includes attendee quotes.
What a rude, lop-sided, cold-hearted review. Props to Student Government for arranging and successfully executing this great concert. I only heard positive things from my peers who also were in attendance. You mentioned Amine dealt with “disorganized logistics, a strange location, and poor weather.” Disorganized logistics? I thought everything was extremely organized. The concert staff kept students updated on Twitter along with sending out emails with updates. The line moved EXTREMELY quick for the number of people. (The author probably has never been to TITS on a Thursday). They even handed out free ponchos…which was unnecessary but super generous. Strange location? Let me get this straight — a basketball court inside our gym isn’t strange? Imagine the lines getting into FitRec, disrupting the people that want to work out. Also, God forbid there’s an emergency – it’s a much more cramped space and would be dangerous. It would have been the opposite of ideal. If the BU Beach is a “strange location”, I don’t know what would count for not strange. Lastly, poor weather? All I know is that the BU Student Government along with Amine and his staff have zero control over the weather. Yes, it would have been nicer if it was clear. But it was just a constant drizzle – it never down-poured, which we were super lucky for. Also, remember the free ponchos? You can’t complain about the mud honestly. Grass + rain + force = mud. It’s a part of life. Shoes can be cleaned and mud can go away. Lastly, $15 for an on-campus concert is reasonable. That’s about 0.025% of our tuition. Amine tickets would go for at least $50 elsewhere. The fact that he came to our campus, where we didn’t have to travel far to, is lucky. To be honest, it would have cost about $15 for the transportation to and from Brandeis, so I don’t see that as a logical alternative. Overall, the concert went super well considering this was the first one in many years. Having the title be “Spring concert flops” very much contradicts your sentence of “When Aminé finally came out, he completely killed it. He started by showing the YouTube celebrity Rickey Thompson on the screen behind him — iconic. Aminé brought great energy, dance moves and an overall excellent performance.” Very confusing article.
SAO and StuGov worked incredibly hard to make this event happen. They were given a bad situation at the last minute and it was completely out of their hands, but that’s fine focus on the bad. It sounds like you had your mind made up before you went to the concert.