Despite the decline in traditional Homecoming concerts, students may have an alternative to look forward to in the Tuscaloosa amphitheater.
Construction at the amphitheater will be mostly completed by Friday, and the venue is set to open in March 2011.
“We’ve looked at other campuses, especially SEC schools,” said Kelli Knox-Hall, the senior assistant director of Ferguson Operations. “Big Homecoming concerts are becoming harder to pull off because a lot of bands don’t want to play college campuses in general.”
The Ferguson Center staff and the Student Government Association are collaborating to explore the possibilities of a spring show for students at the new venue. Their aim is to schedule it in April, making it one of the first events after the amphitheater opens the previous month.
As they weigh their options, the planning committee is awaiting further information from the city of Tuscaloosa, responsible for operation of the facility, and Red Mountain Entertainment, a Birmingham-based company that will promote and manage events.
Students who voted for Homecoming queen had the option of completing a survey choosing among a variety of musical genres and artists they would like to see in Tuscaloosa. The bands that received the most votes were MGMT with 30.3 percent, Jason Derulo with 27.3 percent and Darius Rucker with 23.5 percent.
The feedback was as diverse as the student body, Knox-Hall said.
Another section where students wrote in their favorite performers elicited responses ranging from Lil’ Wayne and Luke Bryan to Dave Matthews and Widespread Panic.
“We were excited that students were interested in seeing artists that were diverse, from more than one genre,” said Nicole Bohannon, the SGA executive vice president and a member of the planning committee
Despite student interest, more well-known performers probably will not be an option.
“Once we got quotes about what their talent fees would be, realistically they were just too expensive,” Knox-Hall said. “We’re still trying to explore options of what’s feasible from a budget standpoint.”
Keeping expenses low is crucial, as the concert would be part of an annual SGA philanthropy event that raises money for a scholarship fund. Knox-Hall said they also want to keep ticket prices at $20-25 for students.
“It’s hard to do both – get a popular artist and keep tickets at a reasonable rate,” she said.
They are working with a booking company to compile a list of artists who are available at the right time, in the right price range and interested in performing a show for college students, Bohannon said.
Students could choose multiple bands they preferred, and more than 10,000 votes were tallied.
Sophomore Keelan Marlowe, who participated in the online survey, said she would like to see more diverse groups performing the same event. She said a good example was August’s GreekFest, which featured the electronic group Pretty Lights, the more mellow Slightly Stoopid and rappers Bone-Thugs-n-Harmony.
“I go to all the music events on the Strip,” Marlowe said. “I feel like a lot of people are going to be interested in bringing culture to town, and music is part of that.”
She said she’d like to see The Black Keys and liked many other artists on the survey.
Junior Hope McKay and freshman Jessica Smith weren’t as happy with the options, saying they weren’t diverse enough.
“I listen to all kinds of music but I didn’t like those groups,” Smith said.
Bohannon said they are open to student input about bands they would like to see come to Tuscaloosa.
“The list of bands on the survey is definitely not what we’re limited to,” she said. “We just used that as a starting point to gauge interest. We’re always open to student input for bands they’d like to see come to campus.”
