Every now and then, I need to take time off from complaining to give out some well-earned kudos to groups at AU that have made our time here that much better. Right now, the one group that really deserves the lion's share of "thank yous" is the Student Union Board (SUB). You know SUB, right? It does the programming around here.
In the past, our programming was a disaster. Last year was a perfect example of that. In the fall, SUB advertised that a world-famous "mystery band" would be raising the roof of Bender Arena. That band: the Mighty Mighty Bosstones. Although they were at one point famous, SUB had compared them to previous AU acts like the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Weezer and the Smashing Pumpkins. Obviously, there is no comparison. To make matters worse, not many people got the memo that there would be a free concert, unfortunately scheduled on a Jewish holiday. This concert was a total failure.
The next spring, things didn't get much better. AU's big spring concert was Tonic. Tonic?! Boy, that was a stretch. Of course, the show was for a good cause, albeit a boring one. Tonic rocked out AU in the name of curing heart disease. SUB needed to learn the difference between "sexy causes" and boring ones. Heart disease falls under boring. Heart disease seems so inevitable. Why not get a good charity like one for leukemia? Nothing stretches out those purse strings like a bald kid with a high white blood cell count. Even I would attend a Tonic concert if my money were going to a fashionable charity.
Thankfully, this year has been different. Either SUB has learned its lesson or new leadership has infused the organization with some street smarts. Regardless, I am happy with the results, even if I haven't been to a single concert this year.
Dashboard Confessional playing Bender is a perfect example of this. I hate Dashboard with a vitriol usually reserved for war criminals. But, despite my cranky ways, I understood that college girls (and boys trying to impress college girls) go ga-ga for Dashboard. The concert was a success. Kudos!
Only last week, our campus was graced by a living legend, Bob Dylan. For the rest of my life, I can tell people that I was only a quarter of a mile from a folk-music legend. Hell, I was closer to Bob Dylan than to Neil Young at the MCI Center, and I actually went to the latter show. Arriving at AU at about 10:30p.m. after a long day of work proved to me how successful the show was. People were lining up and talking about seeing a true superstar. Kudos!
We still have another live show to go, of course. Fountains of Wayne and N.E.R.D. will be gracing us with their presence before summer, and I think this proves how on top of things SUB is this year. A pop-rock band and an urban band that defies characterization really appeals to many music fans. Granted, some may pigeonhole the former as a one-hit wonder while others may dismiss N.E.R.D. as little more than Pharell's solo work. That doesn't matter. Both are popular now, unlike "superstars" like the Bosstones or Tonic, and both should see many happy music fans when they play here. Kudos!
I can only hope that things keep improving. Even our smaller shows (Andrew W.K., the Ataris) were a huge step up from last year's acts. Earlier this year, The Eagle announced that the reason we didn't get to see bands like two of my personal favorites, the White Stripes and Queens of the Stone Age, was that our arena was antiquated. If we get that taken care of, the sky is the limit. Surely we can all agree that happier students lead to a more pleasant atmosphere. Good concerts make us happy, and SUB finally noticed.
