Grammy-nominated rapper B.o.B. will take the stage at the Compton Family Ice Arena to perform as part of SUB's 2013 AnTostal week-long event Tostalpalooza on Friday.
Senior Danny Kinasz, a member of SUB's concert committee, helped plan the event. He said the concert tickets cost $20. The concert is open to all Notre Dame undergraduate and graduate students as well as Saint Mary's and Holy Cross students, he said.
Unlike previous years, this SUB concert will take place in Compton rather than at the Stepan Center. Kinasz said the decision to move the concert was a group effort of the SUB executive board, concert programmers and SAO supervisor Josh Wilson.
"We saw the opportunity to upgrade the concert to a newer and larger venue to respond to the requests of the students," he said.
Kinasz said frequent complaints from students about the concert in the past stemmed from the distant venue location.
"People complained that Stepan was a buzzkill to the fun vibe the concert created," he said. "We wanted to enhance the student experience and bring the show into a new venue that would create a dramatically better concert going experience."
In the past, Kinasz said the committee was experienced at coordinating all the necessary elements to the show, but this move to Compton required meetings with different University groups in order to organize and work out any issues.
"This year was a whole new experience which required lots of additional planning."
SUB first had to set a date suitable to the schedules of the Compton staff, Kinasz said. They also had to meet with production officials and consider additional requirements, like light and sound equipment, needed for a larger venue, he said.
"It is a larger overall production to match the larger venue," he said. "[It] requires University-wide effort to make the show a success."
The committee also met with NDSP, the fire department, ushers and medical staff in order to ensure the location change would be a success, he said. The committee also considered hiring additional support staff including more ushers, first aid workers and security, he said.
"Compton does not have all the resources that we were used to having in Stepan so we needed to ensure that we were able to obtain all those in order to make the show and its set up possible," Kinasz said.
A larger venue also meant the need for increased publicity. Kinasz said there was an emphasis on getting the word out to more students since more tickets were available.
"To make this show a success we want the support of the student body which has been generating greater interest than in years past," he said.
As for picking the performing artist for the concert, that decision reached back to midway through the fall semester, he said. Kinasz said SUB released a survey to the student body with about six artists as potential headliners for the show, and B.o.B. came out as the winner.
"We made it one of [our] mains goals from the start of the year to listen to the student body and bring in an artists that they wanted to see perform," he said.
Kinasz said the negotiation process involved speaking with B.o.B.'s agent at the Creative Artists Agency (CAA) in order to finalize a contract for the show. Besides verifying his availability for the scheduled date of the performance, negotiations on contractual issues and logistical questions were also considered.
"It took a couple of weeks of negotiation and lots of communication to successfully work out the contract," he said.
As of now, Kinasz said about 2,000 tickets have been sold and they are hoping to have at least 3,500 attendees. He also said two sets of tickets are available, one which provides floor access and a second for seats surrounding the floor. Since tickets do not provide an assigned seat, students may choose to move about their sections, he said.
Tickets are available for purchase up until the show in the LaFortune Box Office between 9:30 a.m. and midnight. Kinasz said students may also obtain their tickets at Antostal events during the week or from ticket sales in the dorms by SUB representatives.
Compton's doors open at 7:30 p.m, and the concert begins at 8:30 p.m. with the opener Dzeko & Torres, a Canadian DJ duo.
"This concert is going to be a fun, high energy, exciting concert," Kinasz said. "If you›re the type of person who likes to have a good time and likes music, you can›t find a better show than this."
These two performers know how to put on a great show and keep the crowd entertained, he said. Kinasz said SUB believes this show in Compton will start an "exciting new tradition of a bigger, better and more memorable show for the student body."
"I can guarantee that this show will be unlike any that any current Notre Dame student has witnessed on campus while they have been here," Kinasz said. "Those who go will remember it forever and those who miss it will regret for even longer."
Contact Carolyn Hutyra at chutyra@nd.edu
