Unarguably, this has been a fantastic semester here at BU Central! We’ve had some pretty great acts grace our stage in the past (Cults, Chiddy Bang, Young the Giant, Four Year Strong, DJ Questlove, Bad Rabbits, Manchester Orchestra, Killer Mike, George Watsky, etc….just to name a few) but I’m pretty sure having two headliners with the same name was a first. Well, sort of. Dave Coulier, aka Uncle Joey from Full House hilariously hosted our Dating Game Show last month and Joey Bada$$ performed an incredible set last Friday. Both were amazing shows and completely sold out! If you’re sad you missed one of these, fret not. We have some more great performances up our sleeve!
On March 23rd, come check out our SPF ’13 concert headliner We Are Scientists! For more details, check out our Facebook event.
And as if that isn’t news wasn’t fabulous enough, our free popcorn has made a comeback! Stop by and have some freshly popped, salty goodness.
Follow us on Twitter and “like” us on Facebook to stay up-to-date on all of the fun events we have coming your way.
When you’re not enjoying one of our amazingly free LIVE events, you should be hitting up the legendary venues within your reach right off of the Charles River Campus. Here are some of the shows I’m looking forward to this semester with a few tracks by some of the artists below. There are tons of venues in the Boston area (BU Central included), so check ‘em out and explore the local scene.
Solange Knowles at Paradise Rock Club – February 19th
Passion Pit at Agganis Arena – February 9th
Alt-J at Paradise Rock Club – March 2nd & 3rd (*both shows are sold out #sadface)
The Rocket Summer at Brighton Music Hall – March 27th
Local Natives at House of Blues – March 30th
Andrew McMahon (from Jack’s Mannequin) at Paradise Rock Club – April 8th
Wavves & FIDLAR at Brighton Music Hall – April 8th
Cold War Kids at Paradise Rick Club – April 10th
Alicia Keys & Miguel at Agganis Arena – April 10th
This past weekend, I was lucky enough to attend the National Association of Campus Activities’ annual Northeast conference. The conference consisted of a variety of different events, including education sessions and time slots where schools could show off their programming councils and campus activities boards. During the afternoons, NACA held showcases where various bands, comedians, a capella groups and other entertainers performed for conference attendees.
For me, one of the coolest things about the conference was that after each showcase, performers would set up booths in one of the exhibit halls where each was able to introduce people to their music, talk to attendees, and discuss booking with those who were interested.
I was able to meet a lot of really talented performers, including Boston’s own Darlingside, rapper Kosha Dillz—who has toured and performed with artists such as Matisyahu, Snoop Dogg, Cage the Elephant and Aesop Rock—and a ton of great acoustic singers. I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect, but I was so happy to discover that virtually every artist I encountered was eager to meet and talk with attendees, and they all seemed to love answering questions and hearing what people had to say about their performances.
It’s not often that I get the chance to talk to performers that I admire—I’m usually at large festivals where large security guards with their arms folded across their chests ensure that that’s not an option. However, looking back at my attendance at smaller shows, it’s safe to say that I’ve had only positive interactions with the bands that I love. Collecting autographs from members of Hellogoodbye (it was my 15th birthday, okay?), getting Yuri from Gogol Bordello to sit still and smile for a picture. I got so much fan-girl joy out of being able to experience all of these moments with my favorite performers, and it seems to make them happy to see their fans so enthusiastic, too.
A photo of me and Forrest, frontman of Hellogoodbye. I was bad at selfies back then.
I think that sometimes people take for granted how important going to live shows is. Live shows are incredible for a variety of reasons (cool stories, great energy, meeting people, battle wounds from moshing too hard), but one of the greatest remains the fans’ ability to show support for the bands that they love. Especially since downloading music illegally is so easy, a lot of performers really count on touring to act as their main source of income.
But ‘support’ shouldn’t just be taken to mean financial assistance. If fans didn’t come out to shows, bands wouldn’t have anybody to perform for. Musicians don’t just want to record an album, try to sell it, and leave it at that; they get their joy from performing and seeing their fans smiling, rocking out, and enjoying the music. In case you’re not satisfied with any of the above reasons, there’s always the fact that you may discover a new artist that you really like since headliners often bring other bands along with them on tour. Finally, going to live shows is just fun. There is nothing quite like the energy that can be created between a band and a sea of their fans.
So get out there and go get to know these people that you’ve got blasting on your ipod all the time! There are always great performances to be seen here at BU Central – including rapper Killer Mike’s upcoming set this Saturday at 9P.M.—and there are a ton of other awesome venues near the BU campus where you can always catch a show, including Paradise Rock Club, Brighton Music Hall, and House of Blues Boston.
For a more comprehensive list of upcoming live shows in the Boston area, be sure to check out websites such as Songkick, Tourfilter, or The Phoenix’s live music calendar.
Hope to see you at some shows!
Allison
p.s. Here’s the video for “The Ancestor” from Darlingside, so I don’t leave you all with a media-less post. These guys just played a sold-out show at Club Passim and seriously, seriously rock.
