Students and staff alike waited patiently inside the University Ballroom to hear that lovelytheband will be performing at Eastern Illinois University’s annual spring concert at the end of the semester.

Eastern’s University Board hosted the Big Reveal, unveiling who will be on stage in the months to come.

The alternative rock and indie pop group is most known for their 2017 hit “Broken” as well as their 2018 single “These Are My Friends.”

There was a mixed reaction when the name was finally released.

While many students and staff were not familiar with the musicians, others were excited to see the band play on campus.

Tionne Cain, a senior English language arts major, said she has known about the band for a little while now.

“I’ve been listening to their music for about a year,” Cain said.

Cain said she likes their music due to the beat and how “chill” their sound is.

She admits that although she knows the band now, there was a time in her life when she too was unaware of whom they were.

“No one really knows them by name. I didn’t really know them by name; I only really knew them by their songs,” Cain said.

Cain had a few guesses as to who the musical guest(s) would be but said she was shocked when she found out it was lovelytheband.

“I did not expect them at all,” Cain said.

Cain said she expects there to be a relatively large turnout for McAfee and is pretty certain that she’ll attend the concert.

University Board Graduate Adviser Alec Baumgartner said he expected the mixed reaction from the students but expects them to come out to the concert anyway.

“I believe that students will come out just to come out,” Baumgartner said. “For concerts sake.”

As well as being UB’s production supervisor, Baumgartner was also behind the marketing of UB’s spring concert reveal and was a part of creating the hints to try and keep students who were guessing who the artist was on their toes, without giving away too much.

He said keeping this whole reveal was difficult, but he did not give in to giving out information, even to the people he was closest to. “I wanted to make sure that it was kept private and that nobody knew whom it was until now,” Baumgartner said. “I wanted to lead people on until the big reveal, which was really hard.”

Since working alongside the University Board, Baumgartner said he is excited for the concert’s arrival after being able to meet so many of the musicians that have stopped by. Last year, rap artist Fetty Wap performed at the 2018 spring concert, and Baumgartner got a chance to meet him up close in person. He said he expects the same for lovelytheband.

The concert will be held inside of McAfee gymnasium April 11 at 8:00 pm.

Dara McGee can be contacted at 581-2812 or [email protected].