Howie Day entertains crowd in laid-back show at Irvine

Singer-songwriter Howie Day crooned to a sold-out audience Friday night in Irvine Auditorium.

The Social Planning and Events Committee sponsored the event, which attracted about 1,200 students.

Penn was the last stop on a tour of college campuses for Day and singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile -- the opening act.

SPEC Concerts co-Director Matt Mizrahi said the concert ran flawlessly.

"So far, I've gotten nothing but positive feedback," Mizrahi said. "The audience cheered like they loved it."

Mizrahi did note, however, the generally calm nature of the crowd.

"It was a really mellow crowd and it fit really well with his type of music, which was really cool," he said.

College sophomore Alex Flamm agreed and said that this was a point of deviation between Day's concert and others he has attended.

"People pretty much stayed seated the entire time," Flamm said. "The crowd only sung along in a couple of songs, and I definitely think that there were probably some people there that just saw it because he came to Penn."

Flamm also said he enjoyed hearing some of Day's new matierial.

The primary detractors from the concert were "obnoxious and annoying" comments from the audience, he said.

One audience-member shouted "You suck" at Carlile after one of her songs, eliciting cheers of support for the artist from the rest of the crowd.

"Except for that one asshole, everyone was really nice," Carlile said after her performance.

College freshman Stephanie Searles left after Carlile's performance because of the the extensive transition time between musicians.

"We watched the girl completely sing and she was okay, but we didn't really expect her to be there," Searles said. "Afterwards, we waited for about 20 minutes and then we left at 9:15, which was about an hour and a half after it started."

Searles said that she would have like to hear Day perform, but she was not willing to waste her night waiting for him.

She said that responses from friends who remained at the concert made her glad of her decision.

"I know one Howie Day fan really liked him, and others said that it was okay," Searles said. "I didn't really hear anyone that was extremely impressed with him."

She added that this experience will not deter her from attending future concerts at Penn.

Mizrahi he said that it is impossible to compare the success of this concert to other Penn concerts because of the differences in venue.

"It is kind of apples and oranges ... because this is the first time we have done a concert in Irvine since I've been around, but we sold out," he said.

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