By Analeigh Hughes
Lil Yachty and Vince Staples will be co-headlining Art Attack XXXV May 4, according to a video released on Student Entertainment Events’ Facebook page April 6.
The speculation about Art Attack’s lineup started in November when SEE sent a survey to students where they could choose up to four artists from a list that they would like to see at the annual concert. The list included Lil Yachty, SZA, Post Malone and Travis Scott, but not Staples.
SEE held its Battle of the Bands event March 12 and 13, where six student musical acts competed for the opportunity to be one of the opening acts. Wallz Baba won, filling one of the spots on the lineup.
The booking process starts around October, when SEE has a better idea of what its budget for Art Attack will be, said SEE Concerts Director Charles Boulton in an April 1 SEE blog post. The genre of the concert, which has been hip-hop in recent years, is determined by the results of the survey, according to the same blog post.
Other than students’ interest in genres and performers, cost also affects the Art Attack lineup.
“Before even considering which artists I want to bring, I have to figure out the venue and the possible dates,” Boulton said in the post. “I have to budget for security, police, hospitality, transportation, and for how much money will go into sound, lights, video, etc. There’s a large amount of money that goes into this event and a surprisingly large amount goes towards costs totally unrelated to the artist.”
Upcoming concerts in the area also affect Art Attack. SEE has a “radius clause,” which states that they cannot bring an artist to campus that will be performing in the area within a month of the show. This is because artists don’t want to potentially take revenue away from their future shows, Boulton said. Colleges typically pay artists up front, whereas traditional concerts pay artists a percentage of ticket sales.
Students had mixed reactions to the lineup.
“I’m a little upset because I thought there were several other options on the survey they did for who they thought the population of UMD students would want at Art Attack, and I just thought there were better options,” said sophomore elementary education major Stephanie Abuelhawa.
“I expected a lot better, so seeing a pretty big artist, but someone I’m not too interested in, was kind of disappointing,” said sophomore criminology and criminal justice major Mar LaBarbera.
LaBarbera also said the survey at the beginning of the year gave her higher expectations for the concert.
“It kind of got me excited for no reason and kind of got my hopes up,” she said.
However, not all the reactions were negative.
Sophomore criminology and criminal justice major Taylor Dwigun said, “[Vince Staples] is okay. I don’t know him super well, but some of his music is okay. I just wish he was with someone better.”
Featured Photo Credit: Courtesy of Lil Yachty’s Facebook page.
Analeigh Hughes is a sophomore journalism major and can be reached at analeigh@terpmail.umd.edu.
