Grouplove — an indie-pop dance group known for their hit singles “Colours” and “Tongue Tied” — will headline the ASUI Vandal Entertainment 2014 Finals Fest.
“We researched a lot of artists and Grouplove struck us, because they’re a popular genre but they are a departure from the rap, hip-hop that we’ve seen for the last at least four years,” said Vandal Entertainment Board Chair Sammi Gunning. “So we’re hoping to reach out to students who enjoy this kind of genre while keeping it super popular. We’re not too limited with one niche artist that one person likes. They also were in our price range.”
The event will take place May 8 in the Kibbie Dome. Music is anticipated to start at 8 p.m. with three opening acts — music groups Kiven, My Body Sings Electric and disc jockey Beni Haze.
In an effort to keep up with the same caliber of artist as last year’s Finals Fest that featured Macklemore, Gunning said Vandal Entertainment will have to charge students for tickets this year. Student tickets will be $14 and can only be purchased at the UI Ticket Office. She said students are classified as undergraduate University of Idaho students who attend the Moscow campus.
Everyone else will be charged $25 and can purchase their tickets at the ticket office, online or over the phone for an additional fee.
Gunning said the decision to charge for student tickets was the biggest challenge she faced in planning the event, and while it wasn’t one she wanted to make, she knew it was necessary to afford a more popular artist.
“We worked as hard as we could to get that price as low as possible. But in order to keep the standard that we set for ourselves last year, we’re just going to have to start charging,” Gunning said.
Gunning said she is currently working with the Student Foundation to organize a gala dinner for graduating seniors to be held at the Litehouse Center before the show. She said the specifics of that event have yet to be determined, and she is unsure if seniors will need a ticket to the show to attend the dinner. She said that regardless of status, seniors will need a ticket to attend the concert.
In an effort to reduce the event costs, the concert will be set up in the same way as commencement with open floor space and some seating on the sides.
“It’s really nice for us because the setup is a shared cost with commencement, so that allowed us to actually bring the student ticket price down,” Gunning said. “Grouplove’s concerts … you’re going to want to get up and dance. I don’t think there will be a lot of people sitting.”
Grouplove has participated in major music festivals such as Coachella and Sasquatch, but Gunning said there just isn’t the same instant name recognition as was the case with Macklemore last year.
“But students are going to know Grouplove’s songs and they’ve been touring extremely successful for three or four years,” Gunning said.
Gunning said Vandal Entertainment was lucky to sign Macklemore for Finals Fest when they did last year. She said his skyrocket to success just after the contract was signed is the reason students were able to get in free last year and was the reason behind the overall success of the show.
“Nobody understands how lucky we were and how much — if we had booked him any later — we would have been paying,” Gunning said. “We went through a lot of artists this year — discussing them, talking about the pros and cons and it really came down to this artist with their availability, the finances being right and the fact that people do know their songs even if they don’t necessarily know right off the bat that ‘Oh that’s Grouplove,’ and the fact that it’s going to be an amazing live show.”
Kaitlyn Krasselt can be reached at [email protected]