SEACY, Ark. (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — It seemed like another Friday evening at Harding, a private Christian university located in the heart of Arkansas, but no one could know what mayhem lay in store for the concert-goers attending the Robert Randolph & The Family Band concert that night
Things started off sedately enough, The Amsterband opened the show and soon passed the reigns to Rudolph's outfit, a band known for their audience participation and that's when things started to go awry.
According to the Daily Citizen, Randolph started to invite audience members up on stage, one at a time at first. Each audience member would be escorted off stage by a member of the Benson House Management Team for the Campus Activities Board. Eventually Randolph challenged the audience to all mount the stage, and dance to the song "Shake your hips," noting that event organizers couldn't remove everyone. A number of students complied, despite the wishes of the Activity Board members present and a campus security officer.
Finally, event organizers instructed Randolph to stop or they would pull the plug. Randolph complied and the dancing students were removed from the stage.
Zach Neal, who serves as the director of campus life expressed concern about the "Spirit of rebellion" present that night. "People understood there was not to be dancing; people understood they were not to be on stage." Neal said, sounding suspiciously like the evil dean from a bad frat movie.
Neal also expressed concerns about liability for what he claims was 100,000 dollars of equipment on the stage.
Although there is a clause in the University's rider which "permits no dances", nothing explicitly addressed people mounting the stage. The university would strive to make it more clear in the future. They are not pursuing a possible breach of contract with Randolph. A video of the dangerously out-of-control students can be viewed here. – CelebrityAccess Staff Writers
