Students may have a chance to get some last minute costume ideas for this Halloween weekend at a concert featuring the band Hellogoodbye, who has been known to dress up on stage in costumes ranging from Chewbacca to a banana.

Hellogoodbye will be flying directly to Marquette from their tour with Hanson to perform on Thursday, Oct. 29, in the Great Lakes Room of the University Center.

Hellogoodbye is a power-pop band from Huntington Beach, Calif. and formed in 2002. The group is well known for their energetic performances, which in the past have featured such eclectic elements as water guns and crowd surfing in an inflatable raft. Some of the band’s more notable songs include “Here (In Your Arms),” and “Shimmy Shimmy Quarter Turn.” The band has just finished an unnamed album, which features a new single called, “When We First Met.”

Front man and lead singer of the band, Forrest Kline, said that their is ready to put on a great show at NMU.

“We like to have a good time and we’re excited to come and hang out with everybody [in Marquette],” said Kline.

While the tour has been making its most recent stops in sunny locales such as Orlando, Kline said that he is looking forward to coming to the U.P. for the first time.

“We’ve never been there,” he said. “It will be a nice break from this tour to fly up there and get a different kind of weather.”
The participatory nature and atmosphere of college shows was part of the draw for Hellogoodbye to accept the invitation to play at NMU, said Kline.

“College tours are always fun in their own way,” he said.

Kline described Hellogoodbye’s sound as very “poppy with an element of home recording style,” and said that the band loves to perform in their live shows.

“[Our shows are] very laid back and casual,” he said. “It’s different every time. It’s kind of off the cuff.”

Kline had some advice for NMU students who are planning on attending the show.

“Come with an open mind and an open heart,” he said. “If we say anything dirty on stage we don’t mean it. We’re generally pretty well behaved. We just like to have a good time and hopefully people will have a good time with us.”

Amanda Umstead, a senior speech, hearing and language major and show manager for First Aid Productions, said Minnesota-based The Melismatics, along with local band, The Chanteymen, will be opening for hellogoodbye at the concert. First Aid Productions is the student organization that is bringing the bands to campus.

Umstead said that as show manager her duties consist of acting as a coordinator who, among other things, contacts the bands and their management, sets up shows and makes sure that promotional material is being distributed. Umstead said that because of NMU’s location geographically, it is often challenging to set up shows with well known bands.

“People don’t realize that it’s very difficult to book a band,” she said. “Because we are in the U.P. it’s even harder. Sometimes we’ll have to throw in transportation and hotel rooms [.] We’re lucky that we were able to get [Hellogoodbye].”

According to Umstead, First Aid Productions created a Web and paper survey last year so they could find out what bands students wanted to see perform at NMU.

“Our list was of 20 bands, and Hellogoodbye was the most requested band,” she said.

Umstead said that each of the bands playing at the concert offer something unique for the audience and that Hellogoodbye will provide NMU students with an excuse to move around. Hellogoodbye is known to invite the crowd to dance and sing along while they play.

“It’s going to be a big dance party,” she said. “It’s fun dance music.”

Leon Katona, a sophomore chemistry major and production manager for First Aid Productions, said that doors will open at 6:30 p.m. and the show will begin at 7 p.m. The Chanteymen will perform first and be followed by The Melismatics. Hellogoodbye will take the stage at around 9 p.m. Katona said that the tone and mood of the show will become more intense as the night goes on.

“The show’s going to get progressively more energetic,” he said.

Katona said that he thinks NMU students will be drawn to the concert because it’s an opportunity for them to see a great band perform live.

“I think that people want to see a show. Up here we are so isolated we don’t have very many opportunities [like this],” he said.

Katona said that the concert is a great way for NMU students to begin their Halloween weekend.

“This weekend is going to be intense [with] our show and Halloween.”

Katona added that First Aid Productions hopes to fill the Great Lakes Rooms’ capacity of 750 people.

Tickets are available from any NMU EZ ticket vendor. Cost of attendance is $5 for NMU students and $15 for the general public.