Thousands of students were left disappointed at SUSU’s Grad Ball last night as the headline act, Example, cancelled his performance just an hour before he was due to play.
The ‘Midnight Run’ singer had tweeted earlier in the evening that his “Voice is sounding like sandpaper,” but no students were aware of his cancellation until DJ Fresh performed in his place at midnight in the Ice House instead of the Bar Quarter.
On the incident, Union President Sam Ling said: “Unfortunately at 11 o’clock this evening – only an hour or so ago – one of our acts, Example, pulled out of performing. We are incredibly disappointed, particularly at the late notice. However we have been working incredibly hard – and all of our staff are working phenomenally hard behind the scenes – and we have pulled together Fleur and DJ Fresh who perform together often. They are going to be coming together to do a collaboration as your headline act tonight. We’re really excited to be able to do that, particularly at the late notice, I think it’s going to be a phenomenal climax to the night.”
Thousands of students attended the £49 event in Oceana – the biggest nightclub in Southampton – to celebrate the end of their final year of university. The remainder of acts which included performances from Amelia Lily and Stavros Flatley, and DJ sets from Scott Mills, Pendulum, Chris Stark and DJ Fresh were enjoyed greatly, alongside the free funfair available outside.
Going on to discuss what students will receive as compensation for Example not performing, Sam Ling said: “We have got to provide value to our students so the money that we are receiving back from the cost of that artist, we are going to reinvest through your graduation week, and I’m really excited to say that we are putting on a week of events, each night, for those graduates to celebrate their time here.”
Example has apologised on Twitter for missing the performance, but is currently still set to perform at Isle of Wight Festival on Friday.
The Edge’s full review of SUSU’s Graduation Ball is available here
3 Comments
How can they do a week of events in July if most graduates don’t have houses at that point?
What about student nurses who do don’t graduate until December? We won’t benefit from that at all…
He’s confirmed he will be perfoming at the Nottingham Trent Graduation Ball this evening.