Last Saturday, a stage was constructed at mid-court in the Chiles Center and Joe Jonas and DNCE graced The Bluff with one of the most spectacular Rock the Bluff performances in recent UP history. The Beacon applauds Campus Program Board, and specifically Jacque Nelson, for a job well done.
Students lined the halls of Chiles in the weeks before the concert, waiting to get tickets. Some went for a love of DNCE and Coleman Hell, some went for a love of jumping around in a sea of sweaty prefrosh, and even more went to appease childhood crushes they had on lead singer, and former boyband member, Joe Jonas.
Over 3,000 people were in attendance to bop along to “Cake by the Ocean,” which exceeds last year’s crowd by more than 800. The CPB team pushed the maximum capacity from 2,200 to 3,600 this year for headliner DNCE by opening up the Chiles mezzanine for the first time, according to Nelson, the director of CPB.
Nelson, a junior, and her team have been working hard to put this night together since not long after The Bleachers closed last year's Rock the Bluff.
This was also the first year since 2014 that student media were allowed an interview with the Rock the Bluff headliner. The Beacon witnessed firsthand as Nelson and fellow CPB coordinators juggled tasks meant for a team of seasoned professionals with grace and maturity far beyond that of regular college students.
“We’re children!” Nelson joked in the CPB volunteer room in Lund Hall hours prior to the concert. But if Nelson & Co. proved anything, it’s that college students with enough drive and determination can pull off anything.
Every piece of confetti that was cannoned into the air during DNCE’s grand finale performance was hand cut in the ASUP offices going into the wee hours of the morning days before the concert. The stage was taken apart and put back together in between performances. CPB met all the demands of students, the University and a high-profile band, all without any major public malfunctions or meltdowns.
Maybe we’re just in a daze of fan-girling over Joe Jonas walking the halls of Chiles, but The Beacon is impressed. Hats off to CPB.
