Critics of this year's Spring Fest argued there was just something the SA event was lacking.
Many said it was a big name band.
Others said general interest.
But after Spring Fest finally arrived Friday, at least one thing UB's Spring Fest lacked was obvious: UB students.
While the line for non-UB students to buy Spring Fest tickets wrapped around Alumni Arena, the UB student line was almost non-existent. The UB students who did show up were outnumbered by crowds of high school students who came to see Hoobastank and the rest of the concert.
For much of the semester, Spring Fest was an object of debate concerning both SA's dwindling budget and the choice of musical acts.
Some students were happy with SA's choice of performers. Many, however, were not.
"I wasn't interested in seeing the bands that were playing. I'd rather go out and do something with my friends who weren't going," said Charles Wiff, a freshman English major who didn't attend Spring Fest. "Not many people I know were going, anyways. Most of the people I know weren't interested, and I got that general feeling around campus. Nobody was really stoked about it."
The event, which was publicized on both radio and television, did draw a large crowd of younger students as well as students from surrounding colleges.
"It was all over the radio, and we heard about it from other kids," said Becca Lenan, a freshman at Hamburg High School who attended the event with her friend Alex Baker.
"I love Hoobastank, so I just had to come," said Lindsay Warnes, also a freshman at Hamburg.
Alyssa Wahler, a junior television production major at Buffalo State University, welcomed Spring Fest as a big event.
"We never get good bands at Buff State, plus we had to pay to get into our own big events," said Wahler.
To the UB students who attended, the large number of non-UB students was noticeable and unusual, given the annual popularity of the event.
"There's an insane amount of teeny-boppers here," said Tam Tran, a sophomore communication and accounting joint major. "There's no UB line at all. It's all high school kids. Fall Fest had a much better turnout."
"There weren't too many UB kids here and a lot more high school kids, especially compared to Fall Fest," said Jen Koshy, a freshman biology major. "The turnout could have been a lot better."
Despite the low UB student turnout, Koshy had no regrets about going herself.
"I loved it. It was amazing," said Koshy. "But I'm biased, because I love Hoobastank and Lostprophets."
During the concert, many audience members started booing Ima Robot with derogatory chants, which Koshy thought made UB look bad for future bands considering performing here.
"It was mainly the high schoolers who were booing Ima Robot, and I thought that reflected poorly on our school," said Koshy. "It's just rude. Fine, you don't have to like them, but don't be disrespectful. If you don't go here, you don't have to deal with the ramifications of your actions. We do."
