ACE to bring Jesse McCartney to UNCW

The name of the performer for UNC Wilmington’s annual Big Show was released last week through a reveal trailer during Teal Tuesday. Jesse McCartney will be at UNCW on September 22 as the main act for the Association for Campus Entertainment’s Fall Show.

McCartney is known for his pop star status during the early 2000s. He is a platinum recording artist who has sold over 1.5 million albums. His most famous hits include “Leavin’,” “How Do You Sleep?” and “Beautiful Soul.”

Lauren Arsena, president of ACE, says the process to book an artist like McCartney was a long, yet collaborative one that involved input not only from the executive board, but also from the student body.

“The exec board worked together beginning in late May in order to compile a list of artists to put on our survey,” she said. “Once that was done, we were able to market the survey to everyone on campus.”

Arsena and the advisor for ACE, Andrea Ingle, sat down and worked out the logistics of bringing McCartney to Wilmington once the student body’s input had been accounted for. Factors such as supporting his rider, securing tech and deciding on a date needed to be discussed before anything was finalized.

“Andrea and I took the final results, compared them to our price range and discussed which artist would be best for UNCW,” Arsena said. “This is typically the process for all of our big shows.”

Telling the news to the students was the next step after the contract was official. Arsena says the initial reaction to McCartney was even better than anticipated and she believes the show will sell out quickly.

“The campus reaction has been insane!” Arsena said. “People are very excited. We have gotten Facebook messages almost every day about when and where to buy tickets and our social media has reached more people than it ever has before.”

The reaction on social media was also positive and overwhelming, Arsena said. Students even took to their personal Twitter profiles to proclaim their excitement.

ACE also experienced major interactions from students on their Instagram page when they posted that McCartney would be coming to campus.

Tickets go on sale to students on Monday, August 28 at 12 PM both online and at the box office in Kenan Auditorium. Arsena is encouraging students to get tickets as early as possible as tickets on the day of show are not guaranteed.

“Seats are first come, first serve, so you can expect a long line in front of Kenan on the day of show,” she said. “We can’t wait for the show, and I expect it to sell very well!”