The Program Board concert chair said different struggles came up throughout the day, but he and the rest of the staff learned to "roll with the punches" and move on.

With weeks of preparation behind them, Program Board members and 150 other staff members worked to turn the arena into a concert venue for The Band Perry and special guest Eric Paslay. The show cost about $170,000, before production costs.

Josh Palmer, president of Program Board, said there many steps when bringing a band to campus.

“There’s a lot of pieces to the puzzle but once it’s all put together, it looks awesome,” Palmer said.

To prepare for the event, the stage, sound and lights all have to be set up to transform the arena into a concert venue. Keith Voeks, assistant director of University Events, said the 48 by 40 foot deep stage had to be built before the event.

Voeks said the event had 46 production staff members who helped assemble the equipment. Program Board had about 40 staff members who took tickets and wristbands and worked as ushers.

Muscat said hosting a concert on campus brings people together and provides exposure for the university.

“It helps put CMU on the map, not only as a concert venue, but as a university,” he said.

Muscat sees their hard work has paid off once the concert begins.

“The best, more rewarding part of all of this is 20 minutes after The Band Perry comes on, with all of the hard work I’ve put into this, to look out into the crowd and see everyone just going hard, loving it and just having a good time, to me, that makes everything worth it,” Muscat said.

Before The Band Perry started performing, three screens lit up with images of the band members, a countdown appearing before the audience.

At the end of the countdown, lead singer Kimberly Perry shouted “How ya’ll doin’?” before the band performed.

Visuals lit up the screens behind the band during each song as colored lights flashed across the stage.

With high energy, the band encouraged the audience to clap and sing along throughout the show.

Kimberly Perry told the audience country music brings different kinds of people together before launching into the slower tempo, “All Your Life.”

All throughout the crowd, people waved the flashlights on their phones in the air and sang along.

The band covered “Uptown Funk,” “Timber” and “Fat Bottomed Girls” and Kimberly Perry took a selfie with the crowd while the selfie song played in the background.

Kimberly Perry said the future sometimes scares her and asked how many people in the audience were CMU students. According to her, everything students go through inspired the lyrics to the song “Pioneer,” which she dedicated to everyone on campus.

Kimberly Perry said country music brings people together. Muscat aimed for the concert to bring the campus together. Together, the large audience in McGuirk Arena sang along to every word of “If I Die Young.”

“We’re excited and proud of the groups we bring to campus and the shows that we put on for the students because it’s all for them," Palmer said. "That’s why we’re here.”