When the lineup of concerts for this year’s Live @ Veishea was announced back in February, this newspaper conducted a poll of its readers via our website and social media outlets, particularly on our Facebook page. We wanted to see which bands the ISU community was most excited about seeing live in Ames.

The response to this unscientific poll was quite interesting, with the largest response (85) being that students were not excited for any of the concerts at all. 

The nearest competitor for the top slot was B.O.B., which 75 students said they were most excited to see. After that, the numbers take a nosedive. 

Only 36 students said they were most excited to see Easton Corbin, 29 favored Grouplove, and the other bands received between zero and eight votes.

To be fair, there are pockets of fans across this campus who are excited to see maybe one or two of the bands coming during this two-day music festival and, since they favored a combination of acts, could not really answer the question, “Which 2013 Live @ Veishea band are you most excited to see perform?” 

Some students are excited to see the country slate of Easton Corbin and Jana Kramer, or even to see the April 20, 2013 headliner B.o.B. But while students may enjoy the music of these artists, for some it does not seem worth it to pay the $15-20 to hear the artists they enjoy only play a few songs.

It seems that this was an effort to offer something for everyone on campus, offering a plethora of genres and artists so that students are bound to have heard at least one song from each of the acts, rather than offering an event in which an absolutely huge number of students would take an interest. 

While this is noble, with the lack of excitement found among students for the lineup, and lack of recognition of the bands slated to perform, wouldn’t it have been more beneficial to offer something else?

One way of offering that “something else” could be to offer one or two acts each night instead of the five or six offered this year. By pooling the money allotted in the budget for a ticket of 12 acts over two days, you could theoretically get some higher-profile names. Names that students know and love. 

If country acts seem to be the big seller, maybe offer two higher-profile stars on Friday night and offer two rock or hip-hop acts of equal stature the next night. By not having such a large lineup, these stars could play more than just the four or five songs they are currently allotted under the time constraints currently offered.

Even if the current budget is insufficient to draw a few bigger, more well-known performers the investment might be warranted, in order to draw more student interest in the “official” Veishea rather than some of the drunken parties for which Veishea is known and which pose a threat to indulgent students suffering from a lapse in judgment.

As it is, the Veishea committee does a lot of work that normally ends up being the best they can do with the resources that are available. Aiming a little higher, however, is always possible.