Reel Big Fish to headline SA small concert Sept. 1

The Student Association has officially announced on its Facebook page that Reel Big Fish will headline a small concert at UB on Sunday, Sept. 1. The opening act has yet to be determined.

The event is free for all UB students with a valid student ID. Only 1,500 tickets will be sold to the public starting on Aug. 15 at $20 per ticket. If the concert remains outdoors, an additional 500 tickets will be sold at the door.

Reel Big Fish classifies itself as a ska punk band, a genre of music that fuses an upbeat punk-rock sound with a prominent horn section. The band hails from California and has garnered an underground cult following throughout its 20-plus year run. They have performed at UB in the 1999 Spring Fest, 2003 Spring Fest and the 2007 Fall Fest.

"We wanted to bring something a little bit different, something new," said SA Vice President Lyle Selsky. "We do hip-hop. We do rap. We started doing more [electronic dance music]. And we wanted to bring in something for the crowd that's not like this. We think Reel Big Fish is the perfect end-of-summer band because their style is something that everyone can enjoy."

SA booked the band for about $30,000. The production budget for the concert is another $40,000 with any money not used being pushed back into SA's entertainment budget.

The concert will take place in the LaSalle Lot behind Alumni Arena, a venue with a capacity of 9,000 people. If it rains the day of the concert, it will be held in Alumni Arena, which has a capacity of 6,500 people.

The LaSalle Lot was chosen as the venue because it can hold more people than Alumni Arena, Selsky said. Although Baird Point can hold roughly 14,000 people, a stage cannot be built on the grass if it rains even two days before the event, he added. Because the LaSalle Lot is concrete, SA can still hold the concert there even if it rains the night before.

Because of the controversy that surrounded last year's Spring Fest - where some students were unable to get into the concert because of the 6,500 capacity in Alumni Arena - Selsky stressed that only the first 7,000 students will be admitted if the concert is at LaSalle. The first 5,000 students will be admitted if the concert is in Alumni Arena.

He encouraged students to get to the event on time, if not early, and assures that the concert will be the "perfect storm of awesome."

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