Timeflies packs over 1,800 inside the DakotaDome

Almost 30 months after the last major musical artist came to the University of South Dakota, the crowd at the DakotaDome greeted hip-hop duo Timeflies with a proper welcome Monday night.

Organized by the USD Campus Activities Board, the concert sold over 1,800 tickets, CAB member Arianne Wunder said.

“So far, I’ve only heard good things,” Wunder said. “Even so, there’s always going to be a couple people that aren’t pleased with what we bring regardless. However, in this case I am getting the feeling that all of the positive feedback will wholeheartedly drown out any negatives.”

The 1,800 tickets sold for Monday’s concert outsold CAB’s Mac Miller concert in Oct. 2011 by nearly 700.

Wunder said the success of the Timeflies concert raises the bar for the organization.

“It definitely holds the expectations high for future years,” Wunder said. “As far as this opening up future acts for USD, that’s quite unpredictable. It all depends on our schedule, the artist’s schedule and our budget. (CAB) is definitely going to try to continue to bring a variety of acts that will entertain the student body, including another big name concert.”

Monday also marked the first time CAB has hosted a concert inside the DakotaDome since 2003, when Incubus was brought on campus.

Questions of sound quality were risen prior to the Timeflies concert, but Wunder said the concert was for naught.

“Usually the DakotaDome isn’t the best option for concerts due to the acoustics,” she said. “Incubus was brought in a few years back, and the echo wasn’t exactly in favor of them. Fortunately, Timeflies was using roughly 500,000 watts of sound. Once you get to a certain wattage, the specific acoustics don’t matter.”

Proper sound or not, attendees of the concert like junior Katie Staley walked out of the DakotaDome pleased.

“I loved it — they were very entertaining,” she said. “The freestyle rap with USD in it was awesome. I’m looking forward to anyone else CAB brings. Hopefully it’s as good as Timeflies.”

From an organizer and fan standpoint, Wunder said the Timeflies experience was a great one.

“I knew of Timeflies before, but had never seen them live,” Wunder said. “Needless to say, my mind was blown.”

Wunder said the highlight of the show was being on stage, handing Timeflies member Cal Shapiro a list of words and topics made up by CAB for him to freestyle rap.

Even longtime fans like senior Caitlin Heyl said the concert was one to remember at USD.

“As soon as I heard it was Timeflies I was super excited because I’ve listened to them forever and I love (Shapiro),” Heyl said. “They didn’t disappoint. I loved every second of it.”

Photo: On Monday, the band Timeflies performed in the DakotaDome. The Campus Activities Board sold over 1,800 tickets to the concert. (Rebecca Kroeger/The Volante)