For the first time in a year and a half, Quinnipiac’s Student Programming Board has announced a concert that isn’t hip-hop or a comedian, and I might just make my third trip to TD Bank for the show.
The songs of O.A.R. are catchy and easy to follow, the voice is distinctively recognizable for anyone who has heard the band at least a couple of times and, for me, the choruses call up memories of lazy summer days and hazy summer nights.
Still, though, while a handful of O.A.R. songs may frequent the playlists that clutter my iPod, I am by no means an avid fan. I’m familiar with a good deal of their tracks, both mainstream and less than popular, yet I don’t typically call up the band’s name in my iTunes library. I had no idea they released a new album in August 2011.
I am happy with the change in genre as I have never been a big fan of rap, hip-hop or ‘90s comedians but I am less than thrilled with the choice of the band.
O.A.R. spends much of their time performing for colleges across the U.S. and spends the summer performing relatively the same tour list. Connecticut residents are aware of the regular O.A.R. concert held at the end of every summer in Hartford. I’ll admit, I’ve attended a summer concert before but it was less to hear the band and more to socialize with friends on the field, listening to music for $15. I remember less of the performance and more of the downpour and concert goers dancing and sliding in the mud.
When I think of a college concert, I imagine a good band that chances are I wouldn’t go and see elsewhere. Affordable and fun, entertaining and different.
Third Eye Blind was my first college concert experience and I even brought my younger sister along. The Fray was my second and last concert, the evening spent with my roommate. Those bands, favorites of mine, wouldn’t have earned my ticket if they were playing elsewhere. They were both concerts that Quinnipiac brought to the student body, as it is unlikely that many students would have gone to those concerts on their own.
Bob Saget came out of left field and Ke$ha, I feel, is mainstream enough that most students will go out of their way to attend one of her shows or just listen to her one Saturday at Toad’s. Which brings me to Sammy Adams, who plays at Toad’s repeatedly. Just like O.A.R. the concert is regularly accessible to the student body.
I’m not interested in spending more on this ticket than I do in the summer, so although I will most likely be attending the concert because I’m enjoying the change of pace, I don’t see the need to stand around the basketball court when I can sit and listen just as easily for just a little bit less money.
I commend SPB for switching up the show this semester and appealing to the students who aren’t impressed by glitter and awkward jokes but I wish they had reached a little farther to a band that would warrant more interest because of their inaccessibility for any other show.
