Common drops out of Fall Fest lineup

Fall Fest lost one of its headlining performers last Friday when Common withdrew from the "Touch the Sky" tour to take a movie role.

The announcement was made Tuesday only hours before the tour opened in Miami, though the rapper did perform in the opening show. It wasn't until Wednesday that the Student Association found out that Common would not be performing in Fall Fest.

SA President Dela Yador said SA would not be seeking a replacement performer for two reasons. The first is that Fall Fest was part of a packaged tour set up and that Common was to be an opening act for Kanye West. The second is based on West's reassurances that the show would not suffer.

"Kanye has said the sets will be longer, and the artists will perform more material to make up the time slot Common filled," said Yador.

After losing a performer, Yador said SA would not lose money on the contract, avoiding problems similar to those at last Spring Fest when Jadakiss did not perform despite signing a contract.

"We are supposed to get some money back because there was a signed contract for this," he said.

Yador also said SA was prepared for the announcement.

"SA was forewarned about a week ago that he was going to use this," he said.

Yador did hold out hope that Common could make an appearance, as most sources said Common's appearance in the Miami tour opener was a surprise event.

"Who knows if Common will show up? In this business, they could surprise us," he said.

Students that know Common's work were disappointed that he dropped off the tour.

"I was totally stoked he was going to be here, I have his CD and I love it," said Cristina Bruni, freshman pharmacy major. "A lot of talented musicians go into movies and they're usually bad. He should be on tour."

Even with Common off the tour, other students said they would still plan on coming to the show.

"I really don't know Common's stuff that well, and I am more excited about Kanye anyway," said Jamie Olsen, senior industrial engineering major.