By
The Wildcat Opinions Board
Wednesday night, the UA is going to party.
Classes will have ended, Dead Day will be right around the corner and the rock band Counting Crows will be performing at Centennial Hall.
On the night of April 17, nearly 125 students jumped at the chance to purchase tickets for the huge event, waiting outside the Centennial box office until at least 10 a.m. the next day.
By the time 10 a.m. finally rolled around, when the box office opened, the line from Centennial stretched clear around the corner toward the Social Science building.
The concert sold out in a matter of hours.
What gives? What made this event so successful? Maybe the fact that Tucson, the University of Arizona more specifically, sees an act the size of Counting Crows once in a blue moon.
However, concerts like this don't book themselves.
The University Activities Board, along with the Associated Students of the University of Arizona, collaborated together to book the concert, advertise ticket sales and get the student body hyped up about the show - a feat which could not have been completed had the two organizations not decided to work together.
In the future, high-profile campus organizations like UAB and ASUA should collaborate to bring events like the Counting Crows concert to the UA campus.
More than three months ago, J.J. Kruglick, UABconcerts director, and Jenny Rimsza, ASUA special events director, got together to decide which band they wanted to bring to campus for a concert on Dead Day eve.
Because they wanted to keep prices low for students, the two convinced Counting Crows to do the show for a "measely" $50,000.
"The Counting Crows usually charge more for their concerts, but since they knew it would to be for students, they agreed to do it for that price," ASUA President Ben Graff said. "No one will be making any money from this concert - it was meant to be a gift to the students."
All proceeds from the event are going straight back to the university, helping to pay Centennial for use of the venue as well as pay back loans borrowed from the union to fund the concert.
Obviously, the reason students turned out in such mass quantities was because tickets were so damn cheap - $11 each.
However, had UAB and ASUA not worked together to keep prices low, student interest for the concert might not have been nearly as high as it was.
Other campus organizations striving to sponsor major events on campus should take a hint from UAB and ASUA. Working together, the two groups were able to pull off what could quite possibly be considered one of the biggest concerts to come to Tucson in a long time.
