Not to be dramatic, but the music scene at UNR has officially flatlined.
Let’s set the stage: no Welcome Week concert. No Fall music event. No Biggest Little Festival (again). And now? No Spring Concert. NLE Choppa was set to headline what would have been the one big student concert of the year, but as of March 31, it’s officially cancelled due to a medical injury. Of course, nobody is blaming the man for needing to heal—go off, rest, recover. But we are side-eyeing the hell out of how ASUN handled this entire mess.
The announcement was posted with the kind of chaotic energy you’d expect from a freshman group chat. “Cancelled,” it screamed, in all caps and bold red. Beneath it read, “Not an April Fools joke.” Which is funny, because just a few hours later, AFTRPRTY reposted it with the caption, “Apparently it was an April Fools joke all along.” So… which is it? Is this Schrodinger’s concert? Both cancelled and not cancelled until observed?
To say students were confused would be the understatement of the year. This was supposed to be our spring blowout, our last hurrah before finals season devours our souls. And instead, we got a poorly timed Instagram post, mixed messages and the haunting sound of silence (and maybe a refund…maybe).
But let’s talk about the bigger picture here.
This is now a full academic year with no major concerts. Nothing to kick off the year, nothing to wrap it up and nothing in between. And that leaves ASUN President Dawson Deal and Vice President Liesel Kemmelmeier in a bit of a weird spot: the only executive team in recent memory to deliver no major student music event outside of the COVID year.
After last year’s “Biggest Little Festival” quietly disappeared into the void like your ex’s “we should talk” text, this year was supposed to be redemption. But nope. Zip. Nada.
At this point, they might as well just save the money. Roll the whole entertainment budget over to the next administration and give future students a Beyoncé-level blowout. A concert so good it makes us forget we spent this year listening to the sound of our own disappointment echoing off the empty quad.
And can we talk logistics for a second? The concert was supposed to be tomorrow. Are we going to get that money back from the venue? Was there a contract clause for this kind of thing, or is ASUN just eating the cost like a sad, soggy grilled cheese in the DC? We’d love a little transparency. Students are being sent to the Wolf Shop for refunds, but behind the scenes, are we getting refunded too?
Or is the answer—as it’s been all year—just vibes and half baked promises of something in the future?
To be fair, ASUN has thrown some great events in other areas. Free t-shirts, movie nights, mac with Mackay. But nothing hits quite like a campus concert—the lights, the music, the feeling that for one night we’re all in it together, sweaty and alive and screaming lyrics we barely know. It’s a rite of passage, and this year? We missed it.
UNR deserves better. The students deserve to be loud and deserve to dance in a field and sing off-key with strangers who might become our next roommates, heartbreaks or lifelong friends. And yes, ASUN deserves some grace—but they also owe us more than confusion and cancellation graphics.
So here’s a suggestion: instead of trying to squeeze in a last-minute apology concert or throwing more money at a problem already too far gone, just save it. Pass the aux cord to next year’s exec. team and let them plan something amazing. Let them bring the music back.
Because this year? This year was on mute.
Opinions expressed in The Nevada Sagebrush are solely those of the author(s) and do not necessarily express the views of The Sagebrush or its staff. Emily Hess is a student at the University of Nevada studying Journalism. She can be reached at emilyhess@sagebrush.unr.edu.
