THRILL to perform outside of Hagan

Spring has officially sprung, and so has the Spring Concert student opener line-up, but not without some changes to the performers.

Before we welcome famed Jersey Shore reality star DJ Pauly D and Jamaican-American singer, songwriter and rapper, Sean Kingston to Hawk Hill, four students will perform in and around Michael J. Hagan ’85 Arena. LiMM and the Sweeney Sisters will perform on the main stage before the headliners, and Blck Chld will perform in Saxbys as planned.

Will Russell ’20, or more popularly known, THRILL, will now be one of the student performers outside of Hagan Arena before showtime.

“I originally did not get the invitation to play at the Spring Concert, but after some commitment changes with one of the openers, I was asked then to perform,” Russell said.

The Spring Concert executive board announced the four student openers after holding their first ever student opener contest in The Perch on March 3. Among those chosen to perform were DJ duo, Ty Fam and Joe Leo.

According to Megan Azzalina, assistant director in the Office of Student Life and Activities, once student performers are selected, they are not necessarily final.

“Basically how it works is once the winners were selected, we reach out to them and say they have ‘x’ amount of time to accept the position or accept the offer to perform,” Azzalina said. “And they just didn’t accept it.”

In an email to The Hawk, the duo confirmed that they would not be performing before the 2019 Spring Concert.

Spring Concert Executive Board member, Morgan Gares ’19 received a message from the DJ duo about their inability to perform.

“After we announced the winners we received a message from them saying they were not accepting the position,” Gares said.

According to Gares, the concert committee reached out to Russell, who was their runner up.

“He was more than thrilled to accept the position,” Gares said.

Roughly two weeks after the contest was held, Russell received a text message from the Spring Concert Executive Board offering him the opportunity to perform.

Russell said he was told that the DJ duo decided they were unable to perform, and after reviewing the score sheets from the student opener contest in early March, he was the next option.

“My first reaction was that I was excited but also shocked that I would be playing again,” Russell said. “It’s a blessing that I get to perform in front of St. Joe’s every single time that I DJ and I am just excited for this time around.”