Students speculate about Spring Fling performers

As Spring Fling begins to creep steadily upon us, students are beginning to play the guessing game as to whom this year’s performers will be.

From status updates on Facebook to chalk drawings on Locust Walk, students around campus are venturing guesses that range from Vampire Weekend and Kendrick Lamar to Avicii and ASAP Rocky.

“I saw a post on Facebook that Macklemore was coming, and then someone commented that Macklemore was coming to their school for an event similar to Fling,” Engineering sophomore Sophia Siciliano said. “I love Macklemore, so that would be awesome, but I would also love to see another group like Passion Pit — maybe Two Door Cinema Club or the Temper Trap.”

Other students are making guesses based on rumors that they’ve heard floating around campus.

“I would want an Electric Daisy Music [festival] artist and one other act to come,” Engineering freshman Will Meadows said. “I think an EDM artist is the best to party to, and the other performer would be good to provide some quality music.”

Some students have gleaned information from sources such as the recently popular Facebook accounts like Penn Admirers, Penn Compliments and Overheard on Locust.

“I heard Macklemore was coming from Penn Secrets,” College sophomore Christina Atterbury said. “I personally want Beyonce. If the Super Bowl got her, why can’t SPEC?”

The Social Planning and Events Committee — which is in charge of bringing performers for Fling, as well as for other events — has tried every year to build up as much excitement surrounding the performance as possible. Wharton senior and one of three SPEC Concerts co-directors Ronnie DiSimone said what he was excited about the concert.

“It becomes worth the time and effort when you see the physical thing happening,” DiSimone said. “There’s nothing like it.”

However, he declined to comment on who the Fling artist will be this year.

Students have always speculated as to who the performers for Fling would be. Last year, students believed that the pop singer Kelly Clarkson was coming to campus.

“We had nothing to do with Kelly Clarkson last year, that was just a rumor that started,” DiSimone said. “Students like to speculate … it’s a big feature on campus, a time when the campus comes together and people like to feel like they’re on the inside of it.”

DiSimone also mentioned that SPEC put out its own survey to see what students were thinking of in terms of performers. The survey was open to students from Feb. 11 to 14 and asked for their guesses, in addition to their name and Penn email.

“People like to guess for the same reason we like to keep it a secret,” DiSimone said.

Other students believe there’s no point to guess exactly who is coming to Fling.

“I don’t really understand how people think they can predict this because realistically, there’s just a lot of artists out there and a lot that Penn kids like,” College freshman Virginia Walcott said.

“To devise a system to narrow down who it could possibly be is difficult, which is okay because I like surprises anyway.”

In an informal survey the DP conducted, many students said they think another electronic artist will come for this upcoming Fling, while others expressed the desire for a change of pace.

“If we were to have another electronic/house DJ, I think Zedd or Martin Solveig would be really good though,” Wharton senior Dinesh Ramasamy said. However, “after so many solo artists coming to Penn in the past few years, we’re due for a real band of at least three performers.”

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