The real world is about to begin...

It is 12:30 am and I am currently sitting on my fire-escape which over looks Neo, the industrial/goth/awesome night club that resides on the base floor of my building. Why do I like to sit here?  Not only does the smell of 5 Guys waft through the air, but the mixed crowd of industrial-pierced/ red mohawk/ pink tutu's that parade down this alley to the club-door inspire me and  I know for a fact that some of them are actually business professionals with a corner office on Wacker.  It's a shame that when my friends and I talk to them that they feel the need  to preface their appearance with a "Uh, I don't usually do this but...".  This is not only applicable to them, but to a large majority of music lovers.  Is it so wrong to be a business-based professional who likes to shed the white collar every once in a while to get your groove on to industrial dance music?  Or to admit that you have Bach and Rihanna on the same playlist?  Or even to admit that you identify with Pitchfork as your music bible but still can't get enough of Saves the Day?  I shall leave this up to the reader to decide.

One of the reasons I bring this up is because of a sort of guilt I feel when it comes to booking bands for DePaul's FEST.  One of my main goals was to bring something different to DePaul's campus.  By different, I mean to bring someone who was not the typical hip-hop group or rap artist that seems to have dominated college shows in the past few years.  While groups like the Black Keys, the Flaming Lips, Arcade Fire, My Morning Jacket and Phoenix were all my priority, it became clear to me why this hasn't been done in the past.  One of the reasons is the inherent festival-based atmosphere these bands are conducive to.  Festivals with more than 10,000 people in attendance and much larger budgets are quick to get these artists much faster than campus shows would. There is also the issue of dates, which are assigned to us 16 months in advance by the university.  Spring is great for many reasons, first and foremost is the warmer weather, followed closely by the surge of concerts and festivals around the country.  While these are all things that we can appreciate, it does present yet another hurdle to cross when booking these bands.  I emphasize "another" hurdle because when we need to consider pricing, availability and willingness to play in an outdoor setting amongst 4,000 students, it is unbelievable how much shorter our list of potential acts gets (a certain lead singer of Wilco and a certain band that won the Grammy for Album of the Year will not look at anything outdoors or on a college campus, respectively). 

Thankfully, however, we have been working since September to provide a concert that may not appeal to the entire student body but does have it's roots in reasoning.  The line-up may not be as "big" as it has been in previous years, but one of my sincere hopes is that people will appreciate that amount of time and effort that has been put forth into bringing acts that have consistently topped the charts and have sold out in the Chicago area in the past year. 

I feel like I have just poured out a small part of my heart, so please, if you have questions/comments/concerns, make sure to email us as this is checked almost daily. We want to make sure we provide a new and comprehensive event for DePaul students so do NOT hesitate (yes, I am looking at you...)

G'night,

RL