Kesha at PETA’s 35th Anniversary Party at Hollywood Palladium on September 30, 2015 in Los Angeles. Credit: Courtesy of TNS.
“Tik Tok” on the clock, Kesha is set to make a stop on campus.
This year, Ohio Union Activity Board’s annual Welcome Week Concert will be moved to the second week of classes, renamed the Welcome Back Concert and is set to take place at the Schottenstein Center. On Friday evening, the organization’s Twitter account announced that Kesha will be headlining the concert.
“When we heard Kesha was available, we were just really thrilled to have the possibility to bring such a big name to the campus,” said Mike Avdey, a fourth-year in operations and concert chair for OUAB. “Also, the female pop demographic is one that OUAB has not hit in a long time so it was a really easy decision to make.”
Avdey said that the date change was better for artist availability and moving the concert back gives the advantage of two full weeks to promote it on campus.
Josh Hubbard, a fourth-year in finance and OUAB president, added that the date change also let them avoid conflict with the Breakaway Music Festival the weekend prior and Fashion Meets Music Festival in the days following the Welcome Back Concert.
Avdey said the organization explored venue options on and off campus, but decided the Schottenstein Center would be the best fit for the concert, which has taken place on the South Oval the past two years.
“We thought this would be the best one, especially with the artist so we can put on full production and use all of the resources available to us, which is something that you can’t do if the concert is outdoors or the venue has limited capabilities,” said Avdey.
Advey added that it is especially important for the chosen headliner, as Kesha is known to put on a large-scale show.
“She puts on an amazing show, a really fun production,” he said. “She’s a great performer.”
There will not be specific shuttle busses to get students to the venue like there were for the spring concert, but OUAB is working on getting CABS buses routed to take students out to the Schott, similar to bussing on basketball game days, Avdey said.
In the future, Hubbard said the concert date and venue are subject to change year to year, according to the OUAB executive board’s discretion, taking into account student opinions.
“We’ll go back after we see how the concert at the Schott performed in terms of how many students were there and student’s feedback on it,” he said, adding that OUAB checks social media and asks students within and outside the organization to get feedback.
Opening acts for the Welcome Back Concert have not yet been finalized and are to be announced in the coming weeks.
Physical tickets will be required for entrance to the concert, rather than the wristbands used for the 2016 spring concert. They are set to be available at the Ohio Union information desk and potentially other outlets around campus with a BuckID, Avdey said. More details on tickets are to be announced in the coming weeks.
The 2016 Welcome Back Concert is set to take place on Sept. 2 with doors to open at 6:30 p.m. at the Schottenstein Center.
Editor’s note: an earlier edition of this article incorrectly stated the start time of the concert.
