By Noa Maltzman ’18, News Editor
This semester there will be no spring Big Show like Skidmore had in the fall and has had in springs of years past. In the fall, Chance the Rapper performed at the Big Show put on by the Student Entertainment Committee (SEC). Though some students might think it is only a rumor that there is no Big Show, this is indeed correct. “There is indeed no Big Show this semester,” said Jeff Sadueste ’15, president of SEC.
The decision not to have a Big Show this semester was made with consideration for a lot of different factors. “After polling the student body and hearing everyone's suggestions over the years, it was obvious that the majority of people wanted bigger names then we brought in the past,” Sadueste said. In order to be able to do this SEC had to spend more money. SEC did this in the fall by bringing in Chance the Rapper, and this took up a lot of the SEC yearly budget.
Another reason that led SEC to make this decision is the fact that “it is much harder to book a band in the spring than it is in the fall,” said Sadueste. This is due to a few reasons. First, many of the groups that SEC could potentially bring to campus are busy performing at music festivals, such as Coachella, that generally happen in March and April. Second, it is very hard to book the gym as sports teams and clubs have priority. With this in mind SEC was given only one free Saturday for a potential Big Show. It then becomes very difficult to find a band worth bringing in that is also free on the one Saturday the gym is available.
“After Fall Fun day was discontinued, I think a lot of people looked to Big Show as the big event of the fall semester; because of this we booked a larger show in the fall,” said Sadueste. In the spring though there are lots of other events that take place. These events include Earth Day, Spring Fling and Fun Day.
“In lieu of a Big Show we used the remainder of our budget to book larger acts than usual for Falstaffs and Earth Day,” Sadueste said. SEC is working with WSPN and Lively Lucy’s to bring in eight bands for Earth Day. These bands are YACHT, Evolfo Doofeht, Tops, Modern Vices, Quarterbacks, Future of What, Free Cake for Every Creature, and a student band.
“I'm not saying this is the way the club will operate in the future but we wanted to experiment with a larger show to see the response; the fact that last year's show was the first one ever to sell out makes me confident that it was a good idea to do so,” Sadueste said. He also said, “I think as long as we continue to bring well-known and well-respected bands to campus, and use our budget wisely, this "one Big Show a year" model is not a bad option.”