The Racquette

Issue date: 4/17/09 Section: A&E

Media Credit: Amanda Stockwell Gregg Gillis, better known as Girl Talk, continued his performance in the Leithead Fieldhouse without dancers on stage.

Two thousand people descended upon St. Lawrence University on Saturday, April 11 for an event that promised to be memorable. The concert, featuring performer Girl Talk (Gregg Gillis), turned out to be memorable for different reasons than the norm. The Association for Campus Entertainment of SLU was underprepared for the 2,000 people and security was unable to control the crowd. The show, which started an hour late, was shut down after 25 minutes. Luckily for paying ticketholders, Gillis returned to the stage and fulfilled his contracted hour of performance. Gillis did his best to make up for the night's many setbacks with his high-energy performance.

The sheer number of people who attended the event was clearly more than the organization had ever dealt with before. Security checks at the main entrance were abysmal. SUNY Potsdam student Jon Wendt had a pen confiscated, while others entered with contraband that was seen throughout the evening, including beer bottles, cans, lighters, cigarettes and marijuana-the scent of which wafted noticeably through the Leithead Fieldhouse on several occasions. Bathroom facilities (port-a-potties) and water jugs were inadequate and unguarded.

Although doors opened an hour early, according to ACE, approximately 800-1,000 attendees arrived ten minutes before the event was set to begin. This mob caused event planners to make the decision to change start time to 10:30 p.m. Although they claimed (in their message to event attendees) that the event began at 10:30 p.m., in actuality, Gregg Gillis did not enter until 11 p.m. Amber Schmidt, sophomore theater major, was affected by the crowd outside. She recounted events that prevented her entry into the building: "I bought a ticket, I was really excited, but I went all the way there for nothing…just to stand around in the cold getting pushed around by drunk people and watching security do nothing." Twenty minutes after 10 p.m., she said the door was shut. After 20 minutes of waiting around with around 300 drunken people and no progress made, she and alumnus BJ LaBrake gave up on the event, both forfeiting their $15 tickets.

Continued...

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