Poor timing results in sub-par RPC concert attendance
While it is disappointing that Rice Program Council's Welcome Back Concert was so under-attended this year, it is hardly surprising. The first Saturday of the school year is already crammed with activities; with Outreach Day, upperclassmen moving back in, Dis-O and general fatigue after Orientation Week, the concert's poor attendance is due to bad timing.
The concert needs to occur on a different day. One option would be moving it to Sunday, giving students the chance to get settled in before the concert. Alternatively, it could be held in conjunction with one of the year's first major events like Martel College's Don't Mess With Texas party or the first football game of the season. Move-in weekend is already so jubilant, overwhelming and occasionally hazy that students might need some time at their colleges before heading out to carnivals and concerts.
Other issues to address might be the length of the concert and the bands that are invited to play. If the concert is not moved from move-in day, students would likely prefer to attend a shorter act instead of a multiple-hour music festival because of the other activities occurring throughout the day. As exemplified by this year's dismal attendance, students will not stay for a three hour performance.
While the choice of seeing three artists is nice, a single, well-attended act would make for a better overall concert experience. As a result, focusing on booking just one popular artist would be received better. RPC has done a great job circulating surveys to gauge students' music taste, but it isn't clear that the results are reflected in the choice of artists. The survey responses indicated a preference of Top 40 artists, but the exact choice of artist should reflect the campus' music climate as closely as possible.
It is also impossible to ignore the other draw of the Welcome Back Concert: the food. Being a Saturday night, none of the serveries are open and after moving in (and Dis-O), students do not want to go back off campus to forage for food. This year it seemed like there was an effort to bring more kinds of food on to campus, but it wasn't nearly enough. Enormous lines and limited quantities of food diminished the quality of the carnival.
Overall, a move-in day concert with anything short of an A-list artist will have a difficult time attracting students. However, a solid carnival that draws students at dinner time - and guarantees food - that is followed immediately by a single musical act would vastly improve attendance. The Thresher fully supports the idea of bringing more live music to campus, but there are some clear issues that need to be addressed before the RPC Welcome Back Concert can be considered successful.
Unsigned editorials represent the majority opinion of the Thresher editorial staff. All other opinion pieces represent solely the opinion of the piece's author.
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