We The Kings concert attracts 1,600, proceeds build schools in Southeast Asia

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Davison freshman Roxanne Harris was excited about every aspect of getting to see We The Kings and J. Cole perform Sunday night.

CMU Program Board kicked off Homecoming Week Sunday with the Pringles Xtreme Campus Tour, which featured performances by both.

“But it’s also exciting to be part of a world record and watch We The Kings perform,” Harris said.

About 1,600 students and community members filled the floor and stands of Finch Fieldhouse, said Damon Brown, coordinator of student activities.

Brown was eager to see the turn out of the show, which has been in production since mid-July.

“CMU is a very diverse university,” Brown said. “With the two distinct music genres being featured tonight, the concert will welcome a large variety of students.”

The tour, which covers 15 universities, collaborates with “Late Night Republic” and Room To Read in order to promote education worldwide. For every school the tour visits, one school will be built in Southeast Asia using 100 percent funding from students at each school.

Behind the cause is Jake Sasseville, co-owner of the tour and host of “Late Night Republic.” At age 23, Sasseville was inspired by John Wood’s “Leaving Microsoft to Change the World: An Entrepreneur’s Odyssey to Educate the World’s Children.”

“I wanted to change the world and create more than just music and John’s Room To Read foundation came to mind,” Sasseville said.

Sasseville said he recognizes the power of the young generation and their interest in music. Using that combination, he wants to promote the idea of eliminating poverty by elevating education.

“This project allows students to see the role they played in changing the world,” Sasseville said. “Their involvement is evidently a real investment in making an impact.”

Travis Clark, lead singer of We The Kings, was eager about the performance and the charity.

“I don’t know much about the cause,” Clark said. “But it will be cool to see the outcome of our performance when we visit Southeast Asia in a few months.”

The group of three brothers started composing during their middle school years in Bradenton, Fla. Since then, they have sold over 2 million tracks and had over 56 million plays on MySpace, with a nomination in the Best New Artist category of MTV Video Music Awards.

“We owe a lot of our success to our incredible fans,” Clark said. “It’s awesome to see that our music is so influential to them.”

Clark also said the band has developed a special bond making it easy to get along and compose great music.

Opening acts featured Lights Resolved and Finding Clyde. Before the show began, audience members took part in creating a new Guinness world record.

By drumming “We Will Rock You” on Pringles cans in unison, CMU established the record for Largest Can Drum Ensemble.