By David Mooney
Staff Writer

Students will be flashing back to the 1990s when Third Eye Blind comes to St. Michael’s for the annual spring concert on Friday, April 16. Many students have been actively supporting and protesting the S.A.’s decision since the news was announced last Wednesday.

A Mixed Review

Students received an online survey earlier in the year asking them to assess a selection of bands to play at the Spring Concert. Secretaries of Programming for the SA Matt Seklecki and Claire McQuillen said they received feedback from more than 400 students.

“The top genre was rock, overwhelmingly rock,” McQuillen said. “So then we highlighted all the popular [bands] and made a list of about 15 or 20. We then gave it to our SA representatives and asked them who they think would draw in bigger crowds.”

The SA considered several bands before Third Eye Blind, including Dropkick Murphys and MGMT, who couldn’t make the dates already set by the SA, according to Seklecki. Trey Anastasio of Phish asked to play at St. Michael’s earlier in the year, but the SA didn’t have enough money to book him.

Members of Third Eye Blind include Brad Hargreaves, Tony Fredianelli and Stephan Jenkins (Photo Courtesy of Third Eye Blind Facebook page)

Many students have recently joined Facebook groups supporting and opposing the concert since the news was released.

Sophomore Tom Fullam created the “Say No to Third Eye Blind” Facebook group with his roommate immediately after hearing the news. Fullam expressed his disdain, saying that he hasn’t listened to Third Eye Blind since he was in fifth grade.

“Our goal was that, hopefully, we’d get enough people to have the school realize the students are unhappy,” Fullam said. “Then maybe we could get the administration to change their minds.”

Many other groups, such as Say Yes to Third Eye Blind and Say No To People Who Say No To Third Eye Blind have shown up on Facebook since the announcement last week.

Seklecki and McQuillen explained the difficulty of booking a band that can play the specific dates that were already set, as well as finding a band that the student body can agree on.

“Students were asking for headliners like Lady Gaga,” McQuillen said. “But the problem is we have a school of 2,000 people, only so much money, we’re confined to certain dates and the availability of the band, not to mention they must be approved by the administration for appropriateness.”

Seklecki said that the decision is final since the school already signed a contract with the band. It cost the SA $60,000 to get Third Eye Blind to come to St. Michael’s, she added.

Emotions rise on Facebook

Sophomore Matt Orlando, co- creator of “Say No to Third Eye Blind” Facebook page, expressed his frustration that he felt he had little part in the decision making process.

“They say it was chosen by the students,” he said. “But when you get 50 e-mails a day, how can we be expected to know which ones will actually affect us? There are definitely cheaper, better bands that we could get.”

Although some students have expressed their negative opinions about the band coming to St. Michael's, other students are excited for the band to come.

First Year Alexandra Kondracki invited her friends from Massachusetts up for the concert weekend after hearing that Third Eye Blind was playing.

“I’ve already seen them live once and loved it,” she said. “I can understand why some people are against it, but I love all 90’s music so I’m excited!”

McQuillen and Seklecki said they didn’t see it as solely their decision. Ultimately it was the band’s decision to come to St. Michael’s, as well as the SA council’s list of bands that the students wanted, they said.

“Every year there are people who oppose it,” McQuillen said. “But I think we’re seeing it a lot more this year than last."