Puddle of Mudd, Saliva and Burn Halo rock out at the Civic Arena

By Online Editor

The spring concert this year featured the bands Puddle of Mudd, Saliva and Burn Halo in the Civic Arena April 15 and had a total of 1,889 people come through the gates and more than fifty workers and volunteers attended the concert.

Sandy Rogers, the student development program coordinator, said the concert turnout was not as good as last year, but it was bigger than years before and students seemed to really enjoy themselves.

“We had a thousand tickets for students only on the floor standing. We gave all of those away a week and a half before we stopped handing out tickets. That’s the first time we have done that,” Rogers said.

The Feature band, Puddle of Mudd, is a post-grunge band from Kansas City. They have sold over 7 million albums and they just released a new album called “Songs in the Key of Love & Hate” in December 2009.

One of the original founders of the band, Wes Scantlin, who sings lead vocals and plays rhythm guitar, said that the fans have responded amazingly to their new album. He also said he enjoys playing for college shows.

“The chicks are way hotter and the kids are way more fun because they are younger,” Scantlin said.
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The other featured band was Saliva, a rock band from Memphis, Tennessee, who released their debut album in 1997 and had their single “Always” reach number one on the Modern rock Chart and “Ladies and Gentlemen” reached number two on the Mainstream Rock Chart.

The opener band Burn Halo just released their debut album on March 31, 2009. Their song “Save Me” was used in the soundtrack for the WWE videogame WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2009.

Rogers said the turnout for the Spring concerts really depends on the genre of music and that the community seems to respond more to country music than to rock, but the turnout was still very good overall.

“The consensus seemed to be that Saliva may be more of the better performers between Puddle of Mudd and them and a lot of people were surprised by Burn Halo and impressed they didn’t know they were so good,” Rogers said.

Robin Ussher, vice president elect of SGA and chair of the concert, said that in general, students seemed very pleased with the concert and she said she heard numerous people say they had a blast.

“It is no secret that Saliva stole the show,” Ussher said. “They delivered one outstanding performance. As did Burn Halo, they put on an excellent show and have earned themselves some new fans. The general consensus points to Saliva being the highlight of the night, making Puddle of Mudd’s performance appear a bit more lackluster than the rest in comparison. Overall the night rocked, as most would put it. I think it was worth every moment of work we put into it. I’m excited to see the hard rock genre used again in the future because of how well it went over with the crowd.”

Ussher said the only major drawback to the show was its length.

“Three sets with lengthy stage changes made for a long night. Which I believe had somewhat of an effect on the energy level of the crowd,” Ussher said.

Ussher said there was a lot of work that went into the concert, but it was all worth it in the end.

“All in all, I am proud of what WAC has accomplished,” Ussher said. “The advisors of WAC and I have put hours of work into seeing this concert happen.

People ask me if I’m glad it’s over. I tell them no, I’m glad it happened.”