There'll be no big-name concert this spring at Minnesota State University, but college officials say money spent on a comedian and a handful of up-and-coming rock bands has been a good trade-off.
The list of superstars that have come to MSU in recent years is an impressive one: Black Eyed Peas, Blues Traveler, 3 Doors Down, Live, Violent Femmes, Counting Crows and last spring's OK go! are just a few of the acts that have come through campus.
Tonight, Quietdrive, a band with far less star power — but a strong and loyal following in the Twin Cities — comes to MSU’s Centennial Student Union Ballroom.
Last spring's OK go! concert looks to be the last big-name band to come.
Even before the band got to campus, it had been decided by the Student Senate the $30,000 that had been set aside for a nationally known music would be a thing of the past. And on OK go! day, a petition circulated urging the Senate to reconsider.
"The Student Senate had the impression that maybe the money could be utilized better somewhere else," said Casey Carmody, the Senate's vice president.
Student leaders believed, based on the results of a homecoming task force, the money would be better spent on a comedian during homecoming. So last fall, B.J. Novak, one of the stars of the hit NBC sitcom "The Office," brought his stand-up act to campus, an event Carmody says was very well attended.
The same pool of money that funded OK go! and the Black Eyed Peas funded Novak's performance, and it is also funding the Quietdrive show tonight (tickets are still available —students can attend for free and tickets for the general public are $5).
"We would have liked to have a larger concert available, but at the same time we want to respect the Student Senate's decision to be fiscally responsible," said Ryan Ihrke, a program coordinator for MSU's department of Student Leadership Development and Service Learning. "The choice our concert committee made was to work with small and up-and-coming acts and doing smaller things ... In the future, we’ll probably revisit the idea of bringing a large concert to campus."
Quietdrive isn’t the only music on campus this year.
In March, MSU welcomes Recycled Percussion — an act a bit like Stomp but with more focus on drumming — and a band called Paralax came a few weeks ago.
And last week, a handful of local bands partcipated in Battle of Bands. More than 524 students showed up for that.
"One of the things that’s been fun about those events is we’ve been supporting the local talent that we have here on campus," Ihrke said.
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