Only three days before Spring Fling kicks off, concert organizers have announced that the Sonic Youth, Cat Power and Citizen Cope concert will be relocated from Wynn Commons to the Tweeter Center in Camden, N.J.
Citing "unanticipated demand," the Social Planning and Events Committee decided late last night in a 2-1 vote to move the Friday concert to a larger venue.
"Considering the initial reaction to the bands, we didn't think the Wynn Commons location would be a problem," said SPEC Concerts co-Director Sam Huntington, one of the two directors in favor of moving the concert. "But in the last two weeks, we have seen a serious groundswell of support for the bands."
Ashley Wolff, a SPEC Concerts co-director, voted for the proposal, while Tom Kurland voted against it.
Huntington noted that ticket sales from last week have doubled, although he added that only 12 tickets were sold last week. Organizers, however, are hoping for sales to jump in the next two days and to see many at-the-door sales.
Wolff said that goal is attainable given the increased popularity of the concert.
Organizers say the rising demand has not been due to headliner Sonic Youth, but to an active underground fan base for solo act Cat Power. Wolff cited the 2,346 members of thefacebook.com group "Active Underground Fan Base for Solo Act Cat Power" as evidence. The group "Sonic Youth 4ever" listed only three members as of press time, all of whom were SPEC Concerts directors.
"Cat Power rocks! Sonic Youth is trash," Wharton senior Hila Moyal said.
In fact, many students have begun to call for SPEC Concerts to switch Cat Power to the lead role in the concert, as thefacebook.com group "Switch Cat Power to the Lead Role in the Concert" now has 9,945 members. Only four undergraduates are absent from the group: the three SPEC directors, as well as a College freshman T. B. Mice who is blind and deaf.
Wynn Commons had been the planned site for the concert, but organizers believed there would not be enough capacity to hold the expected crowds. Huntington and Wolff thought the only option was to move the concert to Camden.
The Tweeter Center was willing to accept a heavily discounted fee to hold the concert because it had originally booked Ace of Base for April 15, only to realize two weeks ago that their last complete album was released more than seven years ago.
"On the other hand, Sonic Youth has never had a good album," said Kurland, who was the only member of SPEC to vote against the move. "Everyone knows they suck, but I'd rather have them suck on a smaller stage.
With only 36 tickets sold far, each attendee -- at the moment -- would have approximately one-third of an acre from which to enjoy the concert.
Sonic Youth did find support in College sophomore Athena Karp.
"I wouldn't really say I'm a fan," she said, "I downloaded a Sonic Youth song, but I might not go anymore because getting caught by the RIAA was a big downer. I guess it wasn't hard to find the one person downloading Sonic Youth."
Wharton junior Brian Rozelle, who was buying tickets to the concert on Locust Walk, was indifferent to the whole situation.
"You mean this isn't the Mask and Wig table?" Rozelle said. "I'm outta here."
Organizers cited "innate differences" between Camden and Philadelphia as the reason for the move.
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