Fabolous set to perform for Spring concert

HEATHER FRANCI — Staff Writer

Southern Connecticut State University will have a ‘Fabolous’ spring concert this year. That’s right: Fabolous will be performing with special guest XV. Some of his more popular tracks include “You Be Killin Em” and “My Time” and can be expected to be performed.

ProCon made the announcement last week as to who was going to perform. It was a rather last minute announcement for them to make compared to past years. Brittany Magruder, music senior programmer on Procon had an explanation as to why.

“It took so long before a performer was chosen this year because it is very hard to book an artist,” said Magruder. “We had three lists of artists that we wanted to get. Some were out of the country, some were recording, some were asking for a lot more money than we had. The process takes a very long time.”

According to Magruder, a group of about 30 students who are on Spring Week Committee decides who the performer is going to be. Magruder said that Bruno Mars and Jason Derulo were also first looked at to have come and preform, but Mars is recording a new album and Derulo will be overseas.

Larry Tomascak, the director of the Lyman Center gave some insight about how this year’s spring concert will differ from previous years.

“Last year the group tried to please everyone and chose two artists from different genres: rap and rock,” said Tomascak. “This year it’s just rap. The past few years we had Mayday Parade, The Cool Kids, Wale, J. Cole, and N.E.R.D.”

There is a lot of work that goes into preparing for the spring concert. Tomascak said that the employees over at the Lyman Center help to advise the spring concert student committee about booking an act, promoting the show, selling tickets and all the technical aspects such as light and sound.

“Last year’s concert we had our first outdoor concert in the quad and it worked out very well,” Magruder said. “We will keep moving forward on trying different things this year.”

The spring concert will take place Thursday, April 21 at the Lyman Center. Tickets are $10 for Southern students and one guest and $25 for the general public. Southern junior Sarah Beauleau had some thoughts on the concert.

“I’m really curious to see the turnout this year. When booking a performer I think it would be a good idea to have students take a poll ahead of time with possible options for a performer,” said Beauleau. “Last year the show had a little bit of everything for everyone with two completely different genres. I think it’s not fair to students who would like to go to the spring concert but aren’t fans of rap music.”

According to Magruder, the spring concert committee members had a lot of input from students across campus and are thankful for all the help.

“I would like to thank everyone who has been patient on our decision making,” said Magruder. “Booking a music act takes a lot of time and patience. There is a lot that goes into booking a music artist that most people do not know about. This year we got a lot of information from students on who they would like to see on campus.”

With the spring committee moving forward with their ideas for this year’s show, students will just have to wait for April 21 to see what they have planned.