In lieu of an EDM-themed concert like Electric Tundra last year, the Student Association announced the genre for the second installment of the concert will be indie rock and pop.
On Tuesday, SA announced that MS MR, a popular dream pop duo from New York, will perform at UB on Feb. 20 at the Center for the Arts (CFA) for the first concert of the spring semester. The opener for the band is still being decided after Meg Myers, another popular indie rock artist, declined SA’s offer to open for MS MR.
Marc Rosenblitt, SA’s entertainment coordinator, said the production and talent costs are still being tallied, but will total around $30-40,000 in production costs and around $30,000 in talent costs.
Terese Regan, SA’s entertainment director, said the genre was changed because indie music has not been the focus for the past year, so SA is trying to balance the genre distribution of each concert. Regan also said that the CFA would not be conducive for an EDM concert.
“The genre was chosen because the CFA is a seated theatre,” Regan said. “The genre hasn’t been touched yet this year either.”
MS MR, consisting of vocalist Lizzy Plapinger and producer Mac Hershenow, has been steadily growing in the indie pop rock scene in the last few years. The duo first released a four-song demo in 2010 and then a longer EP, Ghost City USA, in 2011. The popularity of the tapes helped the band get a record deal with Kitsuné, IAMSOUND and Columbia Records.
Most recently, their album How Does It Feel was released in 2015. Aside from their own music, Plapinger is also known for her indie record label Neon Gold Records.
The small concert will preface the larger, end-of-year concert Spring Fest.
The concerts, like SA, are funded by undergraduate students through the mandatory student activity fee of $104.75 a semester. All undergraduate students get into the concerts for free with a student ID.
Brian Windschitl is the senior arts editor and can be reached at brian.windschitl@ubspectrum.com.
