Last year, Georgetown’s fall concert was an unequivocal disaster. Barely a quarter of the tickets were sold, the lead singer of the band, Fountains of Wayne, was so sick he almost didn’t make it on stage, and the Georgetown Program Board’s budget was crippled by the $50,000 the group sank into the event. This year, however, GPB has found a way to avoid repeating their mistake: not having a fall concert at all.
In lieu of hosting a concert at Georgetown, GPB is subsidizing a limited number of tickets for off-campus concerts, including a Halloween show at George Mason University featuring Panic at the Disco, the Plain White T’s, and Dashboard Confessional. Activities like this, far from the Hilltop and available only to a tiny fraction of the student body, are no substitute for the on-campus concert, a staple of college life. GPB should stop wasting its funding on handouts and instead focus on bringing a band to campus.
GPB could learn something from their counterparts at George Washington University. When the headliners for their Fall Festival, power-pop band Rooney and mash-up guru Girl Talk, fell through, GW’s Program Board scrambled but was ultimately able to book up-and-coming D.C. rapper, Wale. GPB should be similarly dedicated to putting on a fall concert, and show willingness to expand beyond the standard Top 40 fare, choosing cheaper local and indie alternatives instead.
Choosing local bands, at least this year, would solve GPB’s two principle problems: personnel—its concert staffer quit at the beginning of the semester and hasn’t been replaced yet—and funding—Coca-Cola scaled back its sizable patronage of student activities at Georgetown this year.
Subsidizing tickets may be cheaper than hosting concerts on campus on the whole, but it doesn’t build a sense of community among Georgetown students the way a concert does. GPB may be only spending $1,200 on the GMU concert, a small amount compared to GPB’s entire budget, but still a bit exorbitant when divided amongst the mere 30 students who are benefiting from the funding.
As long as GPB is subsidizing tickets to concerts, they shouldn’t limit themselves to commercially popular mainstream bands like Panic and the Plain White T’s. Any student may propose that GPB sponsor a concert, but when a student suggested that GPB help students go see Of Montreal, the innovative pop band, at the 9:30 Club, the board voted against it. The GPB board should be willing to sponsor events that appeal to students with varying musical tastes.
GPB’s first priority should still be a concert, though. The University of Pennsylvania is getting Stephen Lynch this fall. Virginia Tech is getting Third Eye Blind. Dartmouth is getting RJD2. Georgetown doesn’t need a concert as big or as expensive as these, but simply nothing shouldn’t be an option.
