SPC Hosts 2026 Spring Concert: Natasha Bedingfield and Shelailai

Credit: Ava Battinelli ‘26

On Apr. 15, Marist University’s Student Programming Council (SPC) held its annual Spring Concert at the McCann Arena with pop musician Natasha Bedingfield as the headliner and hip-hop artist Shelailai as the special guest.

This year’s concert generated strong excitement with the announcement of Natasha Bedingfield, whose music resonates across generations. “We got so much interest from faculty and staff, so it was great to see another part of the community engaged,” SPC President Gavin Gilooly ’26 explained.

With 1685 tickets sold, this year’s concert was among the highest-attended in recent years. However, the buzz behind Marist’s annual Spring Concert doesn’t happen overnight. In fact, planning begins nearly a full year in advance.

“Planning for an event as large as the Spring Concert begins much earlier than most people might think. This year, we began putting together potential names and a survey in the first week of school, back in August 2025. From there, we work with our middling agency to determine which artists would be a good fit for Marist and the students' preferences,” Gilooly explained.

What began as survey results and artist shortlists soon became a live performance on the McCann stage.

The opener, Shelailai, who was less known by the Marist population, gave an energetic performance that set the tone for the night. Accompanied by just a DJ on stage, Shelailai dominated the McCann stage and allowed the Marist population to familiarize themselves with her.

Following Shelailai’s opening set, the excitement for Natasha Bedingfield was palpable through the audience. As members of Bedingfield’s band walked on stage, the sea of Marist students on the floor and in the bleachers erupted with excitement.

Adorned in a large fur coat, a black sparkly body suit, and oversized orange sunglasses, Natasha Bedingfield delivered a memorable performance in the McCann Arena.

Bedingfield did a mix of older and newer material from her catalog, sprinkling in popular songs like “Pocketful of Sunshine” and “These Words” into the set, before ending the performance with the smash hit “Unwritten.”

She also playfully interpolated several snippets and covers into her set, adding an element of surprise and shock to the set.

Bedingfield diverted from her pop persona by doing a cover of the hit “Glory Box” by 1990s trip-hop group Portishead. She rounded out the last few notes of the song by singing “67” into the microphone, reeling back in the Gen Z audience.

Small sections of songs such as “Sir Duke” by Stevie Wonder and “Man I Need” by Olivia Dean were thrown into the set, as well as brief covers of “Lose Yourself” by Eminem and “Zombie” by the Cranberries.

The familiarity with Bedingfield, her commanding stage presence and her powerful vocals translated well with the audience. The standout of the night, “Unwritten,” had Marist students singing along with their friends, reveling in the joy of the song.

Marist students provided their reactions to the 2026 Spring Concert.

“Honestly, it was the best one I’ve ever been to in my three years of being here. I had a lot of fun and I thought it was great,” said Abigail Stein ‘27.

“I thought she [Natasha Bedingfield] was great. I feel like there were songs everyone knew, so you saw the crowd get really excited, and I thought she did a really great job,” said Stein. “It was a mix of songs we knew and also covers, but I thought she did great.”

“I thought it was pretty good. I had never heard of the opener [Shelailai] before, but I think she did a really good job. She has a great stage presence. I had no clue what she was singing, but her stage presence made up for it,” said Frances Mercer ‘27.

When asked about concert attendance, Stein said, “Yeah, it was better attended than I’ve seen in other years. I think it was also pretty well organized. I didn’t think there were any problems with getting tickets and stuff, which was good.”

Compared to last year’s Spring Concert, Mercer said, “Yeah, there were people there. I think most people were a little ‘eh,’ because last year NLE Choppa dropped out at the last minute, and people were kind of skeptical, thinking we wouldn’t get someone as big as him, but people still showed up.”

“It was really good. I would go again, and it was for a good price too,” said Mercer.

For Gilooly, as his term as SPC president comes to an end, he reflected on the most rewarding part of his role in planning this event. “The most rewarding part of organizing the Spring Concert is the excitement and anticipation that builds on campus in the weeks and days leading up to the concert.”

“My overall favorite moment is the buzz in the arena before and during the show, when all the hard work comes together, and watching people connect and make lasting memories,” said Gilooly.

That buzz was certainly felt throughout the McCann Arena at this year’s Spring Concert, making it another successful event from Marist’s SPC.