The fifth annual Pack Howl concert and pep rally sold more than 4,000 tickets for Friday’s event — over twice the number sold for last year’s concert, according to Adam Compton, publicity chair for the Homecoming Committee.

“We definitely think there [were] around 4,000 people there … which is one of the largest turnouts for a Pack Howl concert,” Compton, a junior in agricultural business management, said.

Event One staff at the event confirmed these estimates.

“We at least packed 2,000 more people in Reynolds [Coliseum] than last year,” Compton said.

This year’s Pack Howl, hosted by the Alumni Association and the Homecoming Committee, commenced with a condensed 45-minute pep rally.

The marching band, cheerleaders, dance team, DanceVisions and Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity performed before the concert.

Compton said this diverse group of student organizations brought more people into the event.

“I think people came to see [the student groups] and brought some new people into Pack Howl,” he said.

Josh Sherrod, chair of the Homecoming Committee, said the shortened pep rally also helped keep the energy up throughout the night.

“This year we shortened the pep rally part of Pack Howl to 45 minutes,” Sherrod, senior in microbiology, said. “I only heard one person yelling the entire time for Guster [during the pep rally.]”

The crowd, which continued to grow throughout the pep rally, almost filled the larger portion of Reynolds Coliseum, according to Compton.

“We had the large portion of Reynolds this year,” he said. “The floor was capped by the fire marshal this year, as far as people trying to come down, and people were still trying to come down.”

Anna Patton, parade co-chair for the Homecoming Committee and junior in psychology and Spanish, said she could tell the turnout was higher from her perspective on stage.

“It was really neat to be up there on stage and see all those people,” she said. “I know the numbers were much larger than last year.”

The headliners of the concert — the Avett Brothers and Guster, as well as Brett Dennen — went over well, Compton said.

“It definitely was one of the best concerts I’ve seen in a while,” he said. “Having different genres there this year definitely brought a good crowd out.”

Sherrod said he was impressed with the “great student response” to Pack Howl.

“We were just overall very, very happy with it,” he said.