LEB announces band for Behrend spring concert

Last week, the Lion Entertainment Board announced that the spring concert this year will include performances by The Fray, Jack’s Mannequin and Andy Grammer. For the first time, this year’s concert is a joint concert between Behrend, Edinboro and Gannon and will be held at the Tullio Arena downtown on April 15.

The doors open at 7:00 p.m. and special student tickets are for sale until Feb. 24 for $30 on the floor and $20 for regular bleacher seats.  

In order to receive this discounted rate you must have a valid campus email from one of the three campuses and they can be purchased at either www.beg4music.com or erieevents.com.

“I’m excited because I really like Jack’s Mannequin especially,” said sophomore Melanie Coster, a member of the concert committee. “I think all three artists really go well together.  There was talk of bringing in a rapper, but we wanted the bands to fit together, unlike last year with We the Kings and J. Cole.”

Every year, LEB runs a survey to gauge what genre the campus would appreciate seeing for the annual spring concert.  There were over 1,000 students that responded, a record number, and the results leaned towards alternative rock with 46 percent of the total votes.

“People were kind of upset that we left out country,” said Brennan Zanella,  director of LEB. “We did because Blake Shelton was just at the beginning in February, and we had a country band at the beginning of the year in Emerson Drive.”

This year proved to be trickier since all three colleges were involved in choosing a band.  Since Gannon is a private Catholic school, the band chosen had to be approved by the campus ministry.

“I just want all the students that are upset with our choices to know that we do appreciate their input, but at the end of the day we have to cater to the majority,” Zanella said.

Other bands that were considered for this year’s concert included 30 Seconds to Mars, rapper Mac Miller, and Cobra Starship.

University Park was able to land Mac Miller, but Cobra Starship backed out at the last minute, allowing room for Jack’s Mannequin to take the stage.

The Fray, sometimes referred to as a piano rock, alternative kind of band, hails from Denver, Colo. and was formed in 2002.  They were known more in Australia, Canada and the UK for their debut album “How to Save a Life” which went double platinum.

They became known in the U.S. after their first single “Over My Head (Cable Car),” which went on to become a top ten hit. Other top songs include “How to Save a Life” and “Never Say Never” which were both nominated for “Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals” in 2007 and 2010, respectively.  Their self-titled album hit number one in the charts in 2009 and went gold in the U.S. soon thereafter. 

Jack’s Mannequin, also more of a piano rock band, formed in 2004 and was originally from Orange County, Ca.  Lead guitarist Andrew McMahon started the band after leaving his original band “Something Corporate.”
Right before their debut album “Everything in Transit” hit the shelves, McMahon was diagnosed with leukemia. He made a full recovery, but delayed the release of their next album until 2008 when they released “The Glass Passenger.” The album peaked at number eight on the Billboard 200.  Other top songs from Jack’s Mannequin include “Dark Blue,” “Swim” and “Kill the Messenger.” 

American song-writer Andy Grammer just released his self-titled debut album in 2011 with the hit song “Keep Your Head Up.”  The song peaked at #53 on the Billboard 200 and had enough sales in the first week to earn the number one spot on the Billboard New Artists Chart.  He began touring last year and started opening for Plain White T’s in the second-half of their tour.  From Los Angeles, Ca., Grammer is more in the R&B, acoustic genre and other songs of his include “Biggest Man in LA (Live on the Promenade)” and “We Could be Amazing.”