Passion Pit homecoming concert sells out at UNC

Lit by swirling spotlights and a colorful array of lasers, a crowd of nearly 4,500 students packed into Carmichael Arena for Friday’s Homecoming concert, which concert organizers say was sold out.

Concert costs — augmented by the addition of security and Union production staff fees — were slightly higher than original estimates, and organizers said the Carolina Union Activities Board stands to lose money on the concert, which was funded mostly by student activity fees.

The concert, put on by CUAB and the Carolina Athletic Association, brought electro-pop group Passion Pit to campus as a part of the band’s current Campus Consciousness Tour.

“I’m pretty sure it did sell out,” CUAB President Adele Ricciardi said. Only 96 of 4,500 tickets were available an hour before the concert began, Ricciardi said.

Friday’s concert stood in marked contrast to last year’s Homecoming, in which the unexpected pull-out of several proposed musical acts led to the last-minute selection of hip-hop artist Fabolous.

That concert was not widely attended, and Student Congress questioned the decision to spend almost $40,000 on a concert for fewer than 725 students.

Passion Pit, who toured with independent rapper K. Flay and soul-funk group Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears, cost $60,000. The Carolina Athletic Association contributed $5,000 of the total fee, and CUAB funded the rest.

Ticket prices were divided between $15 premium floor seats and $10 general riser seats. By Wednesday, more than $50,000 worth of tickets were sold, Ricciardi said.

Prices were slightly higher for UNC faculty, staff and the general public.

Any profit made from the sales was meant to be returned to CUAB. But even if all the tickets sold were to students — which CUAB officials say were in the majority — the total profit would still be at least $7,500 less than the total cost for the concert.

“We’ve definitely lost tons on sales,” Ricciardi said on Sunday.

The original contract for the concert, provided to The Daily Tar Heel, suggests a $20 general public ticket fee, with reduced price tickets for students. The change in ticket cost was one of many CUAB made in its final draft of the contract with the tour’s organizers.

“We set our own ticket price,” Ricciardi said. “We wanted to keep student tickets really low.”

CUAB also was unable to provide outdoor space for the tour’s Village, a collection of festival tents promoting environmental sustainability and political activism.

Carolina Athletic Association President Brandon Finch said that Friday’s crowd was the biggest to fill Carmichael since the March men’s basketball game against the College of William & Mary in the opening round of the National Invitational Tournament.

Passion Pit frontman Michael Angelakos seemed genuinely surprised by the energy and size of Friday’s crowd.

“We’ve been touring a lot, but I think this is the biggest show of our tour,” Angelakos told the crowd Friday night.

“We just wanted to say how much fun we’re having up here.”

Contact the Arts Editor at artsdesk@unc.edu.