Torrents of rain prevented torrents of Yalies from flooding Old Campus for this past weekend’s Spring Fling.
Heavy rains Sunday morning led to the cancellation of all Spring Fling activities including the outdoor concert by Guster, although the band played an unannounced acoustic set in Battell Chapel. Yale College Council President Vidhya Prabhakaran ’03 said the YCC has rescheduled rides and student concerts for Friday afternoon.
The short Guster concert on Sunday was advertised only as a “meet and greet” because of security and acoustic concerns, Prabhakaran said.
“With our expectance of 6,000 to 8,000 people for the outdoor concert, and with Battell only being able to hold a fraction of that number the event simply could not be advertised as an acoustic performance,” Prabhakaran said. “For most people the real question has been why there was no rain plan.”
The answer, Prabhakaran said, is that it is economically unfeasible to have two setups for a performance.
“You can’t just put some speakers in Woolsey and call it a concert,” Prabhakaran said. “There are security and safety issues, custodial issues, contractual issues, and acoustic issues all of which end up resulting in having to almost pay for an entire second setup to have a backup rain plan.”
Prabhakaran said there is no rain discount in band contracts, so the YCC paid the full $30,000 to Guster. He said the band was only under contract to play outside, and added that the persistence of Brad Kahn ’04 and John Harabedian ’04 convinced Guster to do the meet and greet and play the acoustic set.
The early rain and thunderstorm warnings forced the YCC to take down the stage — which Prabhakaran called “a giant lightning rod” — and prevented the YCC from putting up sound equipment.
“As everyone might imagine, setting up sound equipment in the rain is simply a great way to get someone killed,” Prabhakaran said.
Rather than sit at home and watch a movie, Katherine Capelluto ’04 went to see Guster and said the acoustic set was worth the effort.
“It was nice to see them play in a small setting,” Capelluto said. “It probably would have been better if they played more.”
Although the day’s activities were rained out, Prabhakaran said that with the acoustic performance the day was not a total loss. He added that the YCC saved money on security and other expenses.
“[We will] hopefully redirect that to the Fall Concert next year,” Prabhakaran said.
The YCC has put in a bid on Saturday Night Live comic Jimmy Fallon in the hopes of bringing him to campus next fall.