It’s out with the old and in with the new for the Social Planning and Events Committee’s annual Fall Concert.
Indie rock group The Walkmen will headline the concert, which will take place on Nov. 6 in Irvine Auditorium and open with the band The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, or POBPAH.
“The overarching idea was that we wanted to branch out and bring more upcoming artists rather than old names that are going downhill,” said SPEC Concerts director and College senior Scott Iles.
Concerts director and College senior Rachel Darivoff said SPEC also wanted to highlight a type of music with which Penn students might not be familiar.
“They’re groups that have both been recognized for their actual musical talent and not just their ability to top the charts based on autotune,” Darivoff said. “They’re actually talented groups that do wonderful things with their music and are constantly being inventive.”
Darivoff added that both bands recently headlined at venues in Philadelphia to nearly sold out shows.
The Walkmen currently has five albums out, the latest of which, entitled You & Me, reached number 29 on Billboard’s Top Digital Albums a week after its release.
The online publication Pitchfork rated the album in the top 20 of 2008. Pitchfork also rated the song “The Rat” of the album Bows + Arrows as number 20 on its list of the top 500 songs of the decade.
The band’s music has been featured on the soundtracks of Spiderman 3 and The OC.
POBPAH formed in Brooklyn in 2007. The indie pop quartet got its name from an unpublished children’s book by a friend of the band.
The group’s sound has been compared to acts like My Bloody Valentine and The Smiths.
“The two names just kind of clicked,” Iles said. “Together the two styles of music are going to be pretty awesome, and I think in Irvine they’re going to sound great.”
Both performers have been recently featured in Rolling Stone Magazine’s Hype Monitor.
In the past, SPEC has hosted artists like Stephen Lynch, Howie Day and Rufus Wainwright.
College senior and SPEC president Dasha Barannik said SPEC chose the groups in response to a student outcry for less mainstream, higher-quality artists.
Tickets can be purchased on Locust Walk beginning Oct. 21 between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. each weekday through the day of the show. Ticket prices are $10 for Penn students and $15 for the general public.
A limited number of tickets are also available daily online at upenn.tickets.musictoday.com starting today.
The doors will open at 8 p.m., and the performance is scheduled to begin at 8:30 p.m.
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