It’ll get dark around 8:02 p.m. on April 22^nd. Generally, people like to be relaxed and at home by the time the sun sets over the horizon, but on April 22^nd, 8:02 p.m. might mean something different to the crowd amassed in the Molecular Biology Parking Lot. For those in the crowd wary enough to pay attention to the time at all, it means they only have one hour left to enjoy the Student Union Board Outdoor Concert. 

Ever since Student Government allotted $190,000 to the Student Union Board last fall, Director of Student Activities George Micalone, and his team at the Student Union Board (SUB), have been hard at work creating an eventful evening of entertainment for this spring. It culminated in the Outdoor Concert, which will include performances from Fetty Wap, Cheat Codes, KYLE and Andreas Moss. Now that the performers are public knowledge, Micalone awaits to find out how many of the 12,000 available tickets will be sold, because if enough people attend, the outdoor concert could become Iowa States next great tradition.

“Our model for this show is to subsidize as little as possible and to generate an income that will be used to sustain next years outdoor show,” Micalone said, “That’s why its important for people to go, if you’re on the fence, go anyway, the event is sustained by tickets we earn this year. The more people that attend the more likely we can make the outdoor show an annual experience.”

SUB was careful in selecting performers for the show, because they knew if it wasn’t appealing enough to the masses, then the target sales of the concert wouldn’t be met.

“We tried our best to identify the genre that would appeal to a generalized audience, which we know leans between hip hop and electronic,” Micalone said, “After we determined that, it was important for us to get a variety of successful performers for the show, instead of a sole performer, as a way to attract as many people as we could who enjoy that type of music.”

Micalone also mentioned that if the show hits its marks he is open to bringing in diverse genres in the years to come, such as rock or country.

It is $25 for students to attend the show and $50 for people from the community or abroad. Jennie Norris is the president of SUB and was integral in determining a fair price for the event.

“Since this is a university event, we wanted to make tickets reasonably priced for college students,” Norris said, “We determined the prices by past experiences with concerts and to supply the funds for future concerts.”

$190,000 seems like a lot of money but between all the facets of organizing an event of this scale and magnitude, its important to disperse the money in a correct manner. The money for the show is all from the initial pool allotted by Student Government, and when the public only sees the lump sum, it’s easy to forget how much money is spent on features other than the performers.

“The money will apply to the artists, logistics of the concert, security, lighting, and the stage, among other things,” Norris said, “In the end, our goal is to provide an entertaining experience for the student body, just as we aim to do with every other event.”