Goo Goo Dolls to slide into Dillon Gym for USG concert

NewsOctober 18, 2002Unknown source

By Gabriel Pell
Senior Writer

Published: Friday, October 18th, 2002


It's Goo time. The Goo Goo Dolls will headline this year's fall concert on Nov. 8 at Dillon Gym, said Nikki Branco, tour publicist for the band, and Tim Skerpon '03, USG social chair. Lisa Loeb will open the show, Skerpon said.

Tickets for the concert, which Skerpon said are heavily subsidized by the USG, will be $15. A maximum of 2,500 tickets will be available through the Frist Campus Center Ticket Office starting Monday, at noon to accommodate students with early classes.

Students will be allowed to purchase two tickets for every PUID they bring with them. Though students can bring an unlimited number of their friends' ID to purchase tickets, all ticket holders will need to present a prox or be accompanied by a student with one to gain admittance to the concert. Only two people will be admitted per ID.

The concert will be general admission, standing room only as it has been in previous years.

Though both Skerpon and Langsam declined to say exactly how much the concert will cost and how much the band is being paid, Skerpon said he did not expect to exceed the $60,000 budget after revenue from ticket sales is counted.

Skerpon said he has been planning this concert since May but was already investigating the availability of certain bands for this fall when he was debating whether to run for USG social chair last April.

Skerpon's first step in finding a band to play the fall concert was to consult websites like Prettypolly.com which allow users to search the availability and general cost of booking popular bands. The website reports that the Goo Goo Dolls asking price is between $40,000 and $60,000 and that no fall dates remain available.

Musical artists who played the campus in the past such as the Indigo Girls and Busta Rhymes go for between $30,000 and $50,000 and above $50,000, respectively.

Lisa Loeb was brought to the USG through an independent agent, Skerpon said.

"It wasn't a monetary decision at all," Skerpon said about hiring the Goo Goo Dolls. "It was a decision about who did I, and [Assistant] Dean [of Undergraduate Students] Dunne and [USG President] Nina [Langsam '03] think would be the band that the most people would want to see and the biggest enthusiasm would be drawn on campus."

Langsam emphasized the importance of a band's availability in selecting who would headline the concert. Skerpon said that once availability is determined there is some back and forth negotiation over price.

"What made us end up finally deciding on the Goo Goo Dolls, after stuff like availability and making sure pricing was OK, was just that we looked at when they were popular, or when they were the most popular, and the kind of bands that we felt students at Princeton get drawn to," Skerpon said.

"I think it will appeal to almost anyone who doesn't have anything against modern rock," he said.

Langsam said people are drawn to big name bands. "They're more willing to spend the money," she said.

The Goo Goo Dolls will be producing the show entirely on their own, bringing lighting, sound equipment and effects. Students will see the same show other audiences would see in larger venues.

"They have a really cool stage setup, there are some pictures of it online. So not only is it going to be a musical event but it's going to be a pretty cool visual thing as well," Skerpon said.

The band has been on tour virtually nonstop since May promoting their newest album, "Gutterflower," Branco said. The album, featuring the singles "Here is Gone" and "Big Machine," was released April 9. They are currently wrapping up a string of shows in Australia and Japan, after which they will return to the United States.

Branco said the band has mainly been playing material from "Gutterflower" and from their earlier records, which includes "Boy Named Goo" and "Dizzy Up The Girl," Branco said.


[source]http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/2002/10/18/5782/[/source]

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