Phi Gamma Delta, commonly known as FIJI, hosted a frat party to remember with a surprise concert from The Chainsmokers, advertised as a "pop-up."
The EDM-pop duo was looking to crash a fraternity party when Jonas McAllister, an event manager for Desert Events Arizona and a junior studying political science, proposed his own fraternity as the host â five weeks before the event was held.
McAllister said FIJI couldn't turn down the opportunity for a free show, where the only cost was the price of their party.
"I worked as a liaison with the artist, making sure they're all taken care of, and all their production, media, promotional requirements were all met," McAllister said.
There was a limited list of fraternity members who knew the event was occurring, including McAllister, a person in charge of socials, the FIJI vice president and Caden Bartelme, who is the fraternity president and a sophomore studying finance.
"We were the only ones that were in contact with them to know they were coming," Bartelme said in a written statement after an interview. "No one within the chapter, let alone outside the chapter, knew they were going to crash our party like that."
Bartelme and McAllister said they have been working with the University to increase the caliber of events hosted by ASU and Greek life. These higher-caliber events can cause friction in the local neighborhoods they're hosted at.
"It's kind of the start to bridging a gap between the community and ASU and fraternity parties," Bartelme said. "We don't want to be doing stuff in residential neighborhoods, but it's the only option we have."
The Chainsmokers posted a TikTok showing a citation from the city of Tempe for the event held in a residential neighborhood.
"The Chainsmokers were not cited, the Nuisance citation was issued to a resident of the property," the Tempe Police Department said in a written statement.
The duo responded with "worth every penny" in the caption of their social media post.
A week before the event, FIJI was in Nevada for their formal when McAllister and Bartelme said they were invited to meet The Chainsmokers at a Las Vegas penthouse.
"That really helped us solidify, because even in my mind, I was like, 'You know, they might just not show up, right?'" McAllister said.
McAllister and Bartelme said they have been in talks with the University and other members of the Interfraternity Council about holding future events on campus.
"We're in talks within the IFC, and then with the school, trying to push toward those more sanctioned (events) and having the school be able to monitor these events on campus," Bartelme said. "There's definitely a good push, and it seems like the school is reciprocating that."
Members of FIJI said monitoring the event fell on them, but the fraternity was able to keep an event capacity restriction. Bartelme said the ability to limit the crowd helped the fraternity have a pleasant interaction with officers who arrived at the party.
"We had a great interaction with the police that did come," Bartelme said. "This is a push for bigger and greater things to come for Arizona."
Community Editor Senna James contributed to this reporting.
Edited by Andrew Dirst, Sophia Ramirez and Alexis Heichman.
Reach the reporter at alysa.horton@gmail.com and follow @alysa_horton on X.
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Alysa is a senior studying journalism and mass communication with a minor in political science. This is her fifth semester with The State Press. She has also worked at The Arizona Republic.
