VIDEO: Hoodie Allen concert draws small crowd

Aalfs Auditorium was filled with speakers, lights and loud music April 13, but Hoodie Allen concert-goers only filled about half of the floor seats available at the Campus Activities Board’s annual spring concert.

Senior Katty McNeal, president of the CAB, said about 500 tickets had been sold online before doors opened at 8 p.m. She said since there were not many people in the auditorium, she was hoping more people would be buying tickets at the door the night of the show. CAB allotted 1,100 tickets for the show.

“We’re not really sure what is going on with that,” McNeal said.

The concert was originally slated for March 19 but was then rescheduled for May 5 after the artist was rushed to the hospital March 11 for a “medical emergency.” The show was rescheduled yet again due to complaints that the new date would interfere with finals week schedules. In the end, it was decided the concert would be held April 13.

However, McNeal said with all the changes that took place, she thought the attendance was decent.

Last week, CAB announced they would be giving away special prizes to the purchasers of the 300th, 500th, 750th and 1000th tickets. Arianne Wunder, CAB vice president, said they only awarded the first prize — a meet-and-greet with Hoodie Allen.

Hoodie Allen, under a more than $38,000 contract for his appearance at USD, said he appreciated the crowd for showing up despite all of the rescheduling that took place. He said the rescheduling wasn’t convenient for him either, but it meant a lot to him that people still came to see him.

Hoodie Allen performed for a little more than an hour, and then came back to do an encore of his two most popular songs, “All About It” and “No Interruption.” There was also a dance competition to see who would win jerseys signed by Hoodie Allen.

Sophomore Alyx Phillips said she came to the concert because she is a Hoodie Allen fan and he is a big enough celebrity to garner area attention.

“Yeah, it was awesome,” Phillips said.

Sophomore Alexa Dillon was also a fan of the performance.

Phillips and Dillon both said their favorite part of the show was when Hoodie Allen performed “No Interruption.”

Students from other schools and towns also came to see the performance.

Brent Van den Bussche attends Southeast Technical Institute in Sioux Falls and said he wanted to make the trip to see the concert.

“I’ve been a big fan of Hoodie Allen for a while so I decided to check it out,” Van den Bussche said.

He said his favorite part of the night was the encore performance at the end of the show.

“It passed my expectations,” Van den Bussche said. “I didn’t expect the live band.”

First-year Kaela Dougherty had heard some of Hoodie Allen’s more popular songs before coming to the concert, but said she didn’t know much else about him. She said the concert didn’t live up to her expectations.

“It was something to do,” Dougherty said. “It was a Monday night and not a lot of people were there.”

The music from concert was not the only sounds USD students attending the event heard.

Sirens from emergency vehicles could also be heard as first responders from the Vermillion Police Department, University Police Department and Clay County Emergency Services rushed to Slagle Hall at about 10:28 p.m.

UPD Lt. Jef Rice said his officers were responding to a “medical call.”

One individual was taken out of the building on a stretcher and was loaded onto an ambulance before the vehicle left.

(Photo: Hoodie Allen performs in Aalfs Auditorium April 13. The concert lasted for more than an hour. All photos by Chris Timmerman / The Volante)