When booking Homecoming musical acts Gym Class Heroes and The Avett Brothers Carolina Union President Tom Allin said he was looking to bring acts that would appeal to a wide array of students.
While tickets sales for The Avett Brothers' Sunday show reflected Allin's view the same cannot be said of indie hip-hop group Gym Class Heroes' concert today at Memorial Hall — hundreds of tickets remain.
Carolina Union Activities Board booked Gym Class Heroes to contrast to the folksy bluegrass act" The Avett Brothers.
""We want to appeal to as wide a slice of campus as possible" and have a show with a combination of accessible acts that provides a diverse idea of music" Allin said.
Despite CUAB's effort to appeal to all students' musical interests, today's concert has greatly undersold.
Students were offered the opportunity to camp-out for the first tickets to both Homecoming shows.
On Oct. 4 about 450 students spent the night in the Student Union to buy 628 tickets for The Avett Brothers' concert. The camp-out for Gym Class Heroes show was far less successful: about 150 students camped-out to buy 329 tickets.
Ticket sales didn't sharply rise after the camp-out either.
Wednesday, 18 days after tickets first went on sale, Memorial Hall box office said 559 tickets remain.
By Sunday evening, Memorial Hall said they would not release the specific number of tickets remaining, but said at least 400 of the 1,434 seats were still available for the Gym Class Heroes show.
Allin said the lack of ticket sales could be due to student's unfamiliarity with the group and a lack of appropriate publicity for the event.
With concerts we make our very best judgement as a group of diverse student that represents the student body" but sometimes perhaps we misjudge Allin said. It's something that we've certainly been very curious about and very attuned to" and trying to get the word out — maybe we haven't got the word out.""
Adele Ricciardi" CUAB music committee chairwoman said although ticket sales are important" CUAB is also concerned with booking acts that take a creative approach to crafting their sound.
""CUAB likes to bring artists who are up-and-coming" she said. This opportunity allowed us to bring an artist that is well established" but still innovative in the way they differ from traditional hip-hop by playing live instruments.""
Although Gym Class Heroes is an established group and has sold out larger venues than Memorial Hall" Allin said campus-wide publicity is still crucial to ticket sales.
CUAB sent Facebook invites" e-mailed listervs and sat in the Pit.
""We've definitely kind of pulled out all the stops in terms of trying to get the word out"" Allin said.
Matt McGinley, drummer for Gym Class Heroes, said the group's unconventional hip-hop style carries over to their performance creating high-intensity concert that would be appealing to many students.
This is a show for music fans who want to hear something that's slightly askew"" McGinley said. Gym Class Heroes brings a unique chemistry on stage. We live to play live.""
ATTEND THE SHOW
Time: 8 p.m. today
Location: Memorial Hall
Info: www.unc.edu/cuab
Contact the Arts Editor at artsdesk@unc.edu.
