This year’s Fall Concert will headline the alternative rock band OK Go, Student Events announced this week. The Postelles will open the Oct. 2 concert.
Because the annual event is scheduled to come earlier this year than in past years, Student Events did not have enough time to survey the Brandeis student body before choosing a band, director of concert and student events Elissa Folickman ’11 said.
Instead, the committee used previous years’ surveys to determine which genres of music are popular among the Brandeis student body. Student Events also used iTunes top ten lists to see what music students listen to.
The members of the committee compiled a list of their favorite bands from each genre.
Folickman said a popular trend in last year’s surveys was a desire to hear more hip-hop, which led the committee to add hip-hop artist B.O.B. to the list.
“We really wanted B.O.B., but he’s in California,” Folickman said.
Student Events also considered 3OH!3 and La Rue among 25 others that they included on their list.
Once Student Events created a list of options, they sent it to Pretty Polly Production to negotiate contracts with the artists. After factoring in budget restraints, the production eventually settled on OK Go.
Because Student Events must set aside most of the budget for production costs, the committee found its options somewhat limited.
“What we do is try to come up with suggestions we think the students would like within the budget we can afford. A lot of artists are expensive. I wasn’t aware of how expensive artists were until I joined,” concert coordinator Michelle Miller ’11 said.
Student Events would not specify how much money they are paying the band or for the production.
Aside from monetary concerns, the committee tried to find artists that would appeal to a majority of Brandeis students.
“A lot of the time we go with indie rock … I also definitely wanted something with mainstream appeal,” Folickman said. “I thought that [OK Go] was exciting and a little bit different from what we had done in the past.”
The tight time constraint also helped determine which artist would come to the Fall Concert. “We can’t have much leeway if we get only one or two days to choose from,” Miller said.
“OK Go is about to start their world tour. We’re lucky to get them when we did,” Miller said.
The band became a YouTube hit with its 2006 treadmill choreographed video, “Here It Goes Again.”
Although the band seemed to reach its peak in 2007 when it won the Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video and the YouTube award for Most Creative Video, OK Go will soon release its newest album, “Of the Colour of the Sky,” which will include the track, “Shooting the Moon” from the Twilight: New Moon soundtrack, Jan. 12.
Although OK Go has been successful, Miller acknowledges that the style cannot appeal to everyone.
“We know we can’t cater to everyone’s needs, but we know that we’ll make a lot of people happy and surprise a lot of people,” Miller said.
