It was only four years ago that the first, sustained chord of Franz Ferdinand’s “Take Me Out” was struck on the UCLA campus. Four years since those first couple of lines (“So if you’re lonely / you know I’m here, waiting for you”) hinted at how truly ripe for the plucking radio stations would consider the group to be. Four years since UCLA students had their first taste of the indie rock sensation that, in a matter of months, would take the world by storm.
It was a concert that should be considered the Campus Events Commission’s dream come true: that of finding a band on the brink of a breakthrough and bringing it to campus before imminent success rendered it impossible on the Commission’s limited $35,000 budget.
“It was completely packed in the Cooperage,” fourth-year geography and environmental studies student Carman Tse said. “It was so packed that they had to give out wristbands, and a lot of people still didn’t get in. Franz Ferdinand put on an incredible show.”
In the years since, CEC has had several similar success stories, bringing bands like The Decemberists and Broken Social Scene to campus before the world at large caught on. But this year witnessed a lack of such memorable concerts when compared to previous years.
Ravi Dehar, Campus Events commissioner for 2006-2007, attributes this lack to CEC’s altered approach toward concerts ““ one that attempts to bring in bands that already have a degree of widespread appeal as opposed to bringing in smaller bands whose success may or may not be anticipated.
“We spent a lot of time this year working on encouraging bigger shows that appeal to a wider audience,” Dehar said. “We’re spending more on each show and we’re encouraging the staff to better plan each show.”
This approach, however, limits the number of concerts CEC can bring to campus each quarter. Daniel Lopez, last year’s concerts director, estimates that during the 2005-2006 school year, the commission brought seven to eight groups to campus each quarter, while this year the number ranges from four to five.
“Last year we just had a lot of concerts and a lot of them were smaller bands, but we kept ourselves pretty busy,” Lopez said.
Both Dehar and Lopez agree that the number of concerts CEC can bring to campus relies heavily on how recognizable the potential performers are.
“When they’re small and still indie, it doesn’t cost that much money,” Lopez said. He estimates that a band like Voxtrot, who came to campus for under $500 last year, would now cost, “at least four to five times what we paid for them. I think they have a new CD coming out. When we got them they only had six or seven songs out.”
“It varies heavily,” Dehar said. “If we’re lucky enough to catch them right before they become popular then we’ll probably get them for under $2000.”
The commission’s attempt to bring in bands with greater recognizability also necessitates extra money, which was made available by cutting down on advertising as well as expenses within the office.
“The rationale was to have more money available because we were wanting to steer concerts into sort of a wider conception,” said Cindy Koh, CEC’s assistant commissioner.
And while the concerts this year were generally better attended than those last year, some students feel that this new approach is not for the better.
“It just seems like they’re signing fewer and fewer exciting, up-and-coming acts right now,” Tse said. “I think people want to see new and cutting-edge bands that are just breaking through.”
The number of obstacles and limitations placed on the commission by ASUCLA has had a detrimental effect on this year’s concerts, making the most accessible venues like Bruin Plaza difficult to obtain.
“We’re only allowed four dates per quarter in Bruin Plaza. We choose all four dates the quarter before and then we have to try to fill those dates, versus having a band we really want to play and it being available,” Dehar said.
Advertising limitations also make promotion for the concerts difficult, and attempts to prevent any non-students from attending the shows have also taken their toll.
“At one point two or three years ago we got away with advertising in magazines in L.A. and all these other places,” Lopez said. “They started cracking down on that a year ago and now we can only advertise on Bruin Walk and on our Web site and that’s it. I know last year that our attendance was down quite a bit.”
The current CEC staff also attributes the lower number of concerts to the loss of Lopez, who developed good relationships with booking agents during his time there.
“Booking agents would call him and say, “˜You want this band?’ and he would say, “˜Sure.’ Now that he’s gone, that’s gone,” Koh said. “He got so accustomed to doing it himself that a lot of the staff was unprepared this year and they just don’t know how to establish those kind of relationships.”
“I was there for three years and I can say I busted my ass off,” Lopez said. “I was hoping it would be okay after I left, but I looked through the shows and they didn’t have that many big upcoming bands scheduled to play.”