In line for Friday’s Fun. concert, Jacob Van Brunt held concert tickets he waited five hours for in the cold, Ball State alumna Audrey Hays’ hand and, unknown to her, an engagement ring. The junior computer science major had been planning the moment when he would propose since he heard the band was going to play on campus.
Halfway through the concert, Fun.’s “The Gambler” began, a song about lead singer Nate Ruess’ parents’ lifelong romance. Van Brunt was shaking from anticipation, a little nervous. While Ruess sang the line, “So just take my hand, you know that I will never leave your side,” Van Brunt moved into the aisle and dropped to one knee.
“For that to happen in that moment, during that song, it was surreal,” Hays said.
Hays said, “Yes,” and hugged him as tears streaked down her face. A crowd circled around the couple’s middle-row seat during the proposal and cheered.
“It was the greatest feeling I had ever had in my life,” Van Brunt said. “It was one of the shortest moments in my life, but it felt like forever. The song said everything.”
Ever since she exposed her now fiancé to Fun.’s music, he has been a fan. Hays has been a fan of Ruess from when he was in The Format.
“It’s one of the few bands my fiancé and I can agree on,” Hays said. Hays likes folk and indie music while Van Brunt enjoys classic rock.
The song struck a special chord with Van Brunt and Hays. While he wasn’t completely sure that the song would be performed, he hoped that it would for the big moment. Van Brunt said “The Gambler” describes how he sees his and Hays’ future.
“In the song [Ruess] talks about his parents growing old together; loving each other,” Van Brunt said. “That’s what I want, to be together forever; live life. That’s what love is about.”
A week before the concert, when Hays was sitting in her classroom at Storer Elementary School where she is an art teacher, the song came up on her Pandora station. The line that Van Brunt proposed to her stuck in her mind. That was the moment she had a feeling that the night of the Fun. performance may be when Van Brunt would pop the question.
“I knew that he had bought the ring, so I was just waiting for it to happen,” Hays said. “I had a hunch, but I didn’t know he would do it in the concert.”
The couple met at The Chug two years ago through mutual friends. Hays said she knew there was something special about she and Van Brunt.
“We have been inseparable since,” Hays said.
After the proposal, the couple enjoyed the band and held on to each other for the rest of the concert. The wedding date is yet to be set, but Van Brunt thinks the song will probably be their first dance at their wedding.
“The funny part is when we walked in I talked about buying a T-shirt,” Hays said. “But who needs a T-shirt when they have a ring to remember the concert by? It’s something I’ll never forget.”
