2008 Woodie Awards
Lupe Fiasco concert turnout draws criticism; crowd energized
By: Rhonesha Byng
Issue date: 11/6/07 Section: News
- Page 1 of 1
With the approach of his sophomore album, Grammy-nominated rapper Lupe Fiasco was the headliner at Union Board's fall concert that took place on Saturday night in the Lilly Center.
The opening performance from campus dance organization X-Cell generated high excitement from the crowd for Fiasco's performance. While most who attended seemed to really enjoy the performance, several concert-goers expressed frustration in the amount of students who did not show up.
"It was great, I was just disappointed that they didn't get the word out more. I don't feel like many people knew about it. I knew his music and I feel like he was a really big name, but a lot of people here don't. I was interested in going to a Lupe concert for just $10 I don't know why people passed it up," said senior Elle Cordes.
Vince Greer, Union Board advisor, said about 120 tickets were sold before the concert with at-the-door sales bringing in around 400 attendees.
As a hip hop artist, Lupe Fiasco falls into a genre of music different from acts brought by Union Board in the past. The genre that seems most popular as far as concerts go, said UB music chair Emily Tetrault, has been acoustic rock.
"One reason we decided to bring Lupe Fiasco was because he was so different, we wanted to get more variety in the people we bring and people recognized it," said Union Board President Lauren Weatherall.
People on campus familiar with Fiasco's music, along with a few students from surrounding campuses, supported the event.
"I loved his energy," said freshman Matthew Rivera. "He gave it his all. It wasn't just a performance you could tell he was doing what he loved,"
Despite the high-energy concert, attendance compared to previous fall concerts was lower than usual.
Weatherall said limited advertising resources was one cause for the concert to generate a lower than-usual-attendance.
"I think as far as publicity goes there could have been bigger steps taken," She said. "There's a number of small factors that contributed - one is not being able to start advertising as early as we would have liked."
Tetrault said finalizing contract details prevented Union Board from releasing the name of the performer.
Weatherall also said that since Lupe was not as familiar to DePauw students, attendance was affected.
"I had never heard of him and it cost money so there was no point in me going," said freshman Kate Wright.
Those who had heard of Fiasco were very excited and the energy throughout the concert was high.
"During my last three and a half years here, it was the best concert," said senior Phillip Taylor. "In my opinion, years prior they brought people that appeal to the majority and now we had someone that appeals to the minority."
The opening performance from campus dance organization X-Cell generated high excitement from the crowd for Fiasco's performance. While most who attended seemed to really enjoy the performance, several concert-goers expressed frustration in the amount of students who did not show up.
"It was great, I was just disappointed that they didn't get the word out more. I don't feel like many people knew about it. I knew his music and I feel like he was a really big name, but a lot of people here don't. I was interested in going to a Lupe concert for just $10 I don't know why people passed it up," said senior Elle Cordes.
Vince Greer, Union Board advisor, said about 120 tickets were sold before the concert with at-the-door sales bringing in around 400 attendees.
As a hip hop artist, Lupe Fiasco falls into a genre of music different from acts brought by Union Board in the past. The genre that seems most popular as far as concerts go, said UB music chair Emily Tetrault, has been acoustic rock.
"One reason we decided to bring Lupe Fiasco was because he was so different, we wanted to get more variety in the people we bring and people recognized it," said Union Board President Lauren Weatherall.
People on campus familiar with Fiasco's music, along with a few students from surrounding campuses, supported the event.
"I loved his energy," said freshman Matthew Rivera. "He gave it his all. It wasn't just a performance you could tell he was doing what he loved,"
Despite the high-energy concert, attendance compared to previous fall concerts was lower than usual.
Weatherall said limited advertising resources was one cause for the concert to generate a lower than-usual-attendance.
"I think as far as publicity goes there could have been bigger steps taken," She said. "There's a number of small factors that contributed - one is not being able to start advertising as early as we would have liked."
Tetrault said finalizing contract details prevented Union Board from releasing the name of the performer.
Weatherall also said that since Lupe was not as familiar to DePauw students, attendance was affected.
"I had never heard of him and it cost money so there was no point in me going," said freshman Kate Wright.
Those who had heard of Fiasco were very excited and the energy throughout the concert was high.
"During my last three and a half years here, it was the best concert," said senior Phillip Taylor. "In my opinion, years prior they brought people that appeal to the majority and now we had someone that appeals to the minority."
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