Concert committee lands Ludacris

Ludacris, Jay Sean, and K. Flay, an alternative/hip-hop female artist, will provide the talent for the 2010 Spring Concert.

After circulating a survey among the student body, the Spring Concert Committee set about hiring top headliners Drake and Pit Bull, but was unable to do so because of the inflexible scheduling of the concert.  The Spring Concert will be held in Hagan Arena on April 29, the day before Hawkapalooza.

“The survey went out in the fall and typically we do our best to stick to the results on the survey, everything that is on the survey are acts that are feasible to come here,” said Stacey Sottung, assistant director of campus programming. “We picked the day before Hawkapalooza this year to do the whole weekend together, so we weren’t able to be flexible in our dates, so the top few people on there that would have been the strongest headliners, their schedules didn’t match our schedules.”

With T-Pain, Sean Kingston, and Flo Rida comprising the runners up of the survey, Sottung worked with the concert agency to find a stronger main act. Sottung said that the opening and supporting acts are not decided based upon the survey data, but by what is compatible with the main act and with the committee’s budget.

“So I worked with our concert agency to say who’s big right now, who are other colleges looking at,” said Sottung. “That’s where Ludacris came into the mix and I felt that he would be a good fit, he was what we were looking for, a great hip hop show, he has [a lot] of fans, he goes back years and years and years, has tons of hits, and I think we’re pretty lucky to have him here.”

Sottung did not comment on the total cost of the concert, but said that the committee was able to strike a good deal.

“We’re not going to release the [budget], I mean dollars don’t really matter, but we have about the same budget every year and so we’re spending about the same amount on talent that we have in years past, it just so happens that Ludacris is a very big name and we’re getting him for a very affordable price,” she said.

The committee has not yet released a sales price, but Sottung said that tickets will go on sale April 8. Further details will be discussed at a Concert Committee meeting on March 22.