By Samantha Egan

The record-breaking sale of Springfest concert tickets on March 28 has left Council for University Programming (CUP) members shocked and many students empty-handed and angry.

Tickets to the event, headlined by Nas and featuring Gym Class Heroes, Lupe Fiasco and RJD2, were available last Wednesday at 9 a.m. on myNEU and at noon at Matthews Arena. By 4 p.m., all 3,600 tickets were sold out. However, CUP has announced they are working to get more tickets for students.

“Everyone on CUP was blown away,” said CUP Concert Committee chair Jeff Maimon. “We did not anticipate this at all. Everyone from the [CUP] members to the faculty was shocked.”

The seven-hour Springfest sellout is unprecedented thus far in Northeastern history. Maimon said last year’s concert did not sell out until 48 hours before the performance. Springfest 2005 and 2004 did not sell out at all.

Several students are annoyed about the fast sellout and have been expressing their discontent by writing angry e-mails to CUP officials. Maimon said CUP members as a collectively received 30 angry emails on March 28 by students complaining of not selling more seats, poor marketing and not having the concert in an alternative location that can hold more people.

“CUP is apologetic. Our No. 1 priority is getting more tickets and distributing them fairly,” Maimon said.

Maimon said the number of tickets they were able to sell in Matthews Arena was crippled by the new fire codes made by the city of Boston and the Fire Marshal. The new law states all college concerts must have seats on the floor, rather than have audience members stand. The seat requirement cuts the amount of tickets available on the floor from 2,000 to 1,600.

An alternative location, Maimon said, would lead to obstacles like permits, additional costs and rain date complications, which he said were “way too complicated for a university level.”

As for poor marketing, Maimon said “there is just no way to reach everybody.”

Michelle Ferguson, a freshman nursing major, tried to get tickets over the weekend on myNEU.

“They were all gone,” she said. ” I was disappointed.”

However, Laura Bornstein, a middler psychology major, did not attempt to get tickets at all because she just “wasn’t really interested.”

For those who did manage to get tickets, Maimon urges them to pick them up ASAP. “The sooner they pick them up, the better the seats they’ll get,” he said.

Maimon also reminds students not to bring bags, umbrellas or recording devices to the concert and that metal detectors will be at the doors.