Activities Commission announced on Monday Feb. 9 that singer Mary Lambert will be performing for this year’s spring concert. Lambert will perform in the MacVittie College Union Ballroom on March 29. Doors will open at 7 p.m. and Lambert, who will not have an opening act, will perform at 8 p.m.
“So far it’s been positive,” Activities Commission Concerts Coordinator junior Gannon Andrews said. “I mean obviously, people might not be interested or people who don’t understand that we don’t have all the money in the world to get who they want … Other than that, it’s been positive. Most people I talked to are interested or are willing to check her out.”
Because of cuts to the AC Concerts budget passed by last year’s Student Association executive board at the conclusion of the spring 2014 semester, the decision was made to have two smaller concerts in the ballroom this year, one each semester, rather than one large one in Kuhl Gymnasium. The fall concert was Walk the Moon.
“Mac Miller wasn’t incredibly successful last year so [Student Association] was like, ‘Well, we’re going to cut your budget,’” Andrews said. “We adopted a two-concert system this year so we could try to provide two great concerts this year instead of one.”
In accordance with last semester, approximately 700 tickets will be sold for this concert beginning on Monday, Feb. 16. Tickets will cost $16 and can be purchased at the Student Ticket Office in the Union.
There was one major difference this semester compared to last in regards to how the artist was picked. “There was voting on genre. The genre that was most popular is the one that is usually more popular, the pop/alternative,” Andrews said. “So we looked at other options within our price range where we could make competitive offers.”
Lambert currently has one album called Heart On My Sleeve, which was released in October 2014. She is best-known for her 2012 collaboration on the Grammy-nominated “Same Love” with Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. Lambert performed the song at the 56th Grammy Awards with Macklemore and Lewis as Queen Latifah officiated the weddings of 33 couples, some same-sex and some opposite-sex.
“She’s an activist for [the LGBTQ+ community] and she’s a very big body image supporter,” Andrews said. “She’s got this song called ‘Secrets’––it’s all about her personal secrets and she talks about how she’s overweight and how she’s a lesbian.”
In addition to her singing talent and passion for activism, Lambert is also a slam poet.
“I don’t know if she’ll be doing that at the concert, but she’s a slam poet as well which is really cool,” Andrews said.