By Bianca Strzelczyk
Ska band Less than Jake has accepted the Council for University Programs’ (CUP) bid for this year’s Springfest concert and is currently in the process of negotiating and finalizing contracts with the university, according to a CUP member who wished to remain anonymous.
The band is one of three acts CUP hopes to schedule to perform during the Springfest concert. The other two have not yet been decided.
“We are really excited,” said CUP concert chair Joshua Pratt. “We have been working a lot of long hours and this is probably going to be the best Springfest. Less than Jake is just the tip of the iceberg.”
The contracts are look-ed at by both the university and the band to make sure both parties are satisfied and all needs are met, Pratt said.
For now, Less than Jake is scheduled to be one of the opening bands, rather than the headliner. Currently CUP does not have any other bids out for artists, however they are brainstorming for more bands, Pratt said. The organization is aiming for an energetic, rock band since prior Springfest acts have been hip-hop performers.
Pratt knows there is no way to please everyone, but “[CUP is] trying to get what the students want,” he said.
Senior electrical engineering major Drew Hanlin said he is excited about the accepted bid, but others feel that genre may not appeal to all students. Hanlin said he is expecting a similar turnout to the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, who performed at the university’s last Springfest concert in 2003.
“I think [Less than Jake’s] pretty good,” Hanlin said. “But I don’t think they’ll have as much of a turnout as Method Man.”
However there are also students who are a little disappointed in the band and said they feel other schools have had better concerts.
“I don’t even know them,” said AnnMarie Blunda, a senior psychology major. “This is my last semester and we have yet to get anyone good.”
CUP President Allyson Savin said she thought having “Less than Jake” scheduled to perform during the April 9 concert would be exciting, but she also offered an explanation as to why no “A-list” bands were booked.
“I know students are curious to why the bigger A-list bands are not coming,” Savin said. “[But] they are just not available. We thoroughly exhausted every possibility.”
Because of the unavailability of the more mainstream bands, CUP now has the funds to put on a more rounded show, Savin said.
“We are fortunate to be able to put [Less than Jake] on the bill with other acts,” she said.
Bands including Green Day, Modest Mouse, The Killers, Ben Folds, Guster and Incubus have all declined bids from the organization to play at Springfest because of the bands’ personal reasons, which include prior arrangements. The price of the all bids CUP has placed thus far ranges from $25,000 for smaller bands to $150,000 for the bigger names, Pratt said.
So far the planning process for the concert has been moving along well, Pratt said. CUP has already booked Matthews Arena, and has its funding set, despite only having one band accept their bid.
“Obtaining artists is the most difficult because we are a university,” Pratt said. Larger venues, such as clubs, have more sources available to them to book bands, he said.
Ticket pricing is still in the works; however tickets will be on sale sometime next month. CUP is also trying to make tickets available to guests of Northeastern students with a valid college ID.
“We are trying to meet the Northeastern students’ needs,” Pratt said.
Last semester the Budget Review Committee allocated $242,650 for CUP from the Major Concert Fund for the Springfest concert. In an earlier report in The News, Pratt said he planned on spending about $150,000 of the money to book acts, as the rest would go toward security, sound, stage and other expenses.
