The University of Idaho Argonaut

Despite a student vote last month, alternative pop singer Sarah Bareilles will not be performing at this year’s Finals Fest concert series.
Vandal Entertainment’s Lecture and Performance Arts Chair Jennifer Mano said that roughly two months ago, Vandal Entertainment began reviewing options for music tours that they could afford to re-route to Moscow.

When they had settled on four major options, they held a month-long campus vote.
The decision was between The Mars Volta, Coheed and Cambria, The Donnas and Sarah Bareilles.
By the time students had elected to bring Bareilles to campus, Vandal Entertainment contacted their booking agent to find that none of the original four options were still available.

“We are disappointed that the information about who would be available wasn’t as correct as we were promised,” said Student Activities Coordinator Christina Kerns. “We will still bring a large concert, we’re just still negotiating.”
The process of acquiring a performer involves the university making an offer through a middle agent, who then communicates it to the artists.
If the performers accept the offer, the middle agent draws up a contract to send back to the university for approval and signing.

“I think we were more serious than (the agent) thought,” Mano said.
Mano said that a delay in communication between the university and their east coast agent was likely the reason that the booking opportunities were lost.

“Our voting process took a month, and I think that could have been that delay,” Mano said. “We wanted to get the band that students really wanted.”
The university has not had a consistent middle agent to work with for several years. Kerns said that building a steady work relationship between Vandal Entertainment and a single agent would help to quickly purse such contracts.

“We have been looking for a middle agent. This is the third one I’ve worked with since I’ve been here,” Kerns said. “They exist not only to make the process easier, but say who is coming through the area.”
Kerns attributed some of the confusion to the fact that the concert booking agents that the university works through are typically based in New England.

She said they can often be unfamiliar with Idaho as a music scene.
“Ideally, we’d have a strong enough relationship with that individual to be kept in the loop,” Kerns said.
Kerns said that problems arise if either the university or the middle agent does not communicate clearly and persistently because it can be logistically difficult to schedule tours through northern Idaho.

“You’d think being close to Seattle, we’d get more, but most people do a California run and go up that way,” Kerns said, “so it’s very difficult to get people routed … and we end up flying them in, which gets costly.”
While there is no official contract for a major concert, Vandal Entertainment has booked the New York rock band, Jupiter One, as a small show for Tuesday of finals week.

For Monday night, they are hoping to book Recycled Percussion, an instrumental rock group focused around makeshift percussion, much like the more familiar “Stomp Out Loud.”
Between Wednesday and Thursday night, there will be a large concert and a stand up comedian, neither of which have been decided.

Vandal Entertainment also wants to “steer away” from doing an outdoor movie this year.
Some of the music options being discussed include Metric, Everclear and Sean Kingston.
According to Kerns, last year’s headlining concert, featuring The Roots, was nearly cancelled due to contract communication issues.

“Last year, when we were doing The Roots, so much buzz had been generated before we actually had the contract in our hands,” Kerns said, “and then three days prior to the show, it almost didn’t happen.”
“It continues to be a challenge, but we are persistent,” Kerns said, “and we will bring in somebody that people will be excited about.”