Musical artists Jay Sean and Jesse McCartney will perform in the McDonough Gymnasium on Friday, April 12, as co-headliners for the Georgetown Program Board’s annual spring concert, GPB announced this week.
This year’s concert differs from previous years’, with two main artists scheduled instead of two openers and a headliner. GPB may also invite a student opener for the artists this year for the first time, according to Juliet Fitzpatrick (SFS ’21), co-chair of GPB’s concert committee.
Sean and McCartney were most popular in the 2000s, complementing GPB’s throwback theme for this year’s concert. Sean released his most popular single, “Down,” in 2009, which topped the Billboard Hot 100 that year. McCartney released his debut album “Beautiful Soul” in 2004, which reached the top 15 on the Billboard 200.
Tickets are available this week through GPB and cost $5 for Georgetown students.
Zachary Schroepfer (SFS ’19), vice president of GPB, anticipates student enthusiasm for the artists this year, as GPB is taking a direction they have not in the past.
“Last year we had a hip-hop artist and the year before we focused on EDM. This year, we are looking towards a more throwback themed artist,” Schroepfer said. “While the artists are still currently making music, a lot of students will recognize them from songs they created earlier in their lives, which we are hoping will bring out some more students and get them excited about a few of their songs.”
Past performers at the GPB spring concert have included rapper Waka Flocka Flame, who performed last spring, rapper Wiz Khalifa, who performed in 2013 and 2016, and Norwegian DJ Matoma and electronic musician Cheat Codes in 2017.
This year’s performers were selected by the co-chairs of GPB’s concert committee, Subul Malik (COL ’21) and Fitzpatrick. (Full disclosure: Malik is a member of The Hoya’s board of directors.
GPB’s choice of artist was motivated by a desire to be different than previous years, according to Fitzpatrick.
“We had to keep in mind that we want something popular and we want something different than what we’ve done in the past,” Fitzpatrick said. “I am definitely excited, and I think it’s going to be a big hit with students.”
The process of choosing an artist began last March, when concert co-chairs released polls over social media, followed by a partnership with an agent to come up with a list of possibilities within the organization’s budget range.
GPB tries to take students’ voices into account through the lengthy process of selecting an artist, according to Schroepfer.
“The process is a little difficult because we want to make it as public as possible; however, we have to deal with contract issues where we can’t release the artists’ names until the contracts are signed,” Schroepfer said. “In an ideal world, we would love to make this a very democratic process so we try to do that with the input at the beginning of the process.”
Schroepfer said that GPB was allocated $80,000 for the concert this year, which goes towards covering costs of converting McDonough Arena for the event, among other expenses
“We have a lot of GUPD costs; we have the event outside the concert, which is the pre-concert bash,” Schroepfer said. “All that money goes towards all those different aspects as well as the artist fee. It can be quite expensive to get an artist that students are excited about.
Because the spring concert is GPB’s largest event, the organization’s board aims to appeal to a wide audience with its advertising, according to Schroepfer.
“The mission of GPB is to create high-quality, low-cost entertainment for students at Georgetown, and I think the concert is the best example of that mission,” Schroepfer said. “We make it a high priority that our money is spent on as large a variety of students as possible to make sure that we are effectively using the budget we are given.”
