Dispatch Performs in Sanders

Normally staid Sanders Theatre erupted last night in a cacophony of pounding drums and flashing lights as the bands “Dispatch” and “Red River Parting” played to a raucous crowd of about 900.

The concert’s timing in the middle of a week when many are preparing for mid-terms left about a hundred seats empty in the upper decks of Sanders.

But the show went on enthusiastically nevertheless.

“I’ve never seen a house like this for a rock concert,” Dispatch drummer Brad Corrigan shouted over the roaring crowd. “But we figured we could turn the volume up a little at Harvard.”

The concert sold out in one day, largely due to the popularity of Dispatch, a young band that has a large following among college students.

But despite helping to subsidize the concert through term bill payments, Harvard students were not given priority in ticket sales—although they could purchase them at a discounted rate of $20, as opposed to the $25 paid by those without a Harvard id.

Concert commission member Luke R. Long ’03 estimated that approximately 100 of the 1000 tickets sold were bought by non-Harvard students.

Concert commission co-chair and Undergraduate Council Vice President Sujean S. Lee ’03 said that although students from other campuses were welcome, the event was designed primarily for Harvard.

“Our preference is that it be a Harvard show. We only advertise on campus,” she said.

It may be in Harvard students’ interest, she added, to not restrict ticket sales.

“It is more fair to Harvard students that it is not so strict so they can bring friends from other schools.”

The concert commission may in the future hold larger events in which they will want to draw a large crowd from colleges in the Boston area, so having a more relaxed policy now could help to fuel interest, Long said.

“Eventually we want a stadium concert so we need other campuses,” Long said.

Funding for the show, which cost about $25,000, came primarily from private donors and ticket sales.

The council contributed $5,000 to last night’s show—the second event staged by the concert commission. Organizers say they hope that dependence on the council for money will soon end.

“We are not financially independent right now but we hope to be in the next few concerts,” Lee said.

But concerns about funding—or even mid-terms—seemed distant last night as the crowd rallied to band member Corrigan’s teasing.

“I hear its a school night tonight! What’s up Harvard?” he shouted.

—Staff writer William M. Rasmussen can be reached at wrasmuss@fas.harvard.edu