An estimated 400 AU students filled the Tavern on Saturday night to see the Ataris play its final show on a national tour. Despite the high attendance, however, the Ataris' visit was not successful on all fronts.
"I'm happy because all in all it was a success," Jason Geisinger, assistant director of the Student Union Board, said. "But we were taken advantage of so badly. [The Ataris] took our contractual obligations to an extreme."
The Ataris violated its contract with AU several times and acted in an unprofessional manner for the entirety of the show, Geisinger said. A breach of contract means AU can refuse to pay the band, but since the show was played SUB paid the Ataris.
In the contract held by the Ataris and AU, the band is forbidden from consuming alcohol on campus. However, the band drank in its dressing room on the second floor of Mary Graydon Center after purchasing alcohol from Tenley Liquor, according to Geisinger. SUB staff repeatedly told band members they could not drink on campus.
"We're probably more entertaining when we are wasted than when we're sober," Ataris' lead singer Kris Roe told the audience at the beginning of the show. "So that's good."
Some SUB members were disappointed with the band's behavior.
"Out of all the bands I've worked with ... I've never met such snotty, immature, unprofessional people on this level before," Geisinger said. "They wasted a lot of our money because they could."
The Ataris required SUB to rent a new sound system because the band does not like the brand of the system SUB owns, Geisinger said. The Ataris also bent a microphone stand during its performance and threw food on the floor of its dressing room.
Aram Richards, director of SUB, did not comment on the band's behavior, but said, "people at AU responded well to [the Ataris]."
SUB distributed approximately 430 tickets, according to a ticket count, 100 tickets more than were distributed for Andrew W.K.'s show in October.
