As dawn broke over Westwood this morning, hundreds of UCLA students eagerly waited in line outside the UCLA Central Ticket Office to secure tickets to Spring Sing, one of UCLA’s preeminent annual campus events.
Students started arriving around 11:30 p.m. Thursday to buy general admission tickets on the first day they became available. In anticipation of the rush to buy tickets for this popular showcase of top student talent, the ticket office opened at 6:45 a.m., when roughly 400 students were already in line. Organizers reported that more than 1,600 tickets were sold in the first two hours.
Spring Sing will be held May 16 at Pauley Pavilion beginning at 8 p.m.
The show, which is organized by the UCLA Student Alumni Association and overseen by the UCLA Alumni Association, attracts students, staff, faculty, alumni, talent scouts and members of the broader community, and features a top-tier selection of acts that compete for top honors. Performers are judged by a panel of celebrities whose identities are kept secret until the show begins. Past judges have included Paula Abdul, Michael Strahan and Dennis Quaid, to name a few.
One of the highlights of the show is the presentation of the George and Ira Gershwin Award for lifetime musical acheivement. This year’s recipient is Anthony Kiedis, frontman for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, one of the best-selling bands of all time with more than 80 million albums sold worldwide.
Established in 1945, Spring Sing has showcased several talented Bruin performers who have gone on to successful careers in entertainment. Most notably among them are singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles and some members of Kara’s Flowers, which evolved into the award-winning pop rock band Maroon 5. UCLA senior India Carney, currently a finalist on NBC’s “The Voice,” performed at Spring Sing 2013 with the UCLA a cappella group the Scattertones as well as with the India Carney Band.
For ticket information, go here.
