Arts & Entertainment
Jason Derulo Headlining Ole Miss Spring Concert
Ole Miss welcomes Jason Derulo, Travis Porter, and Fly Panda to perform at this year’s spring concert in the Grove.
The performers were selected by the Student Activities Association (SAA). This year, SAA took to Twitter asking students to tweet what performers they’d like to see with the hash-tag #musicinthegrove.
“With such a growing, diverse student body, it often becomes difficult to get a pulse on what music Ole Miss students like,” said Bradley Baker, director of the Ole Miss Student Union.
Students, however, seem to be responding positively to the choice of entertainers.
“I’ve wanted to see Travis Porter live when he was playing at The Lyric last semester, but the line was too long,” said Cody Spears, junior journalism major. “I’m excited I get another chance to see him.”
Junior IMC major Angelo Costantino-Brown said he’s excited for a big-name artist, like Jason Derulo, to come to Oxford.
“It will be a great experience for Ole Miss,” said Costantio-Brown. “The Grove and Oxford are such awesome places to be. Hopefully more artists will realize that and start scheduling their concerts and tours here.”
While there have been a variety of genres that have played in the Grove, it is noted that the past few spring concert performers have generally been country singers. The SAA, however, received feedback that students were tired of country music and wanted a change.
“When selecting a performer at the scale of what our students want in The Grove, we have to look at two things, cost and availability,” said Baker. “We don’t intend to go after a particular genre, but we want to find something the students will enjoy.”
Attendance in the Grove for the spring concert varies from year to year, but averages around 3,000 to 6,000 people. The Dierks Bentley concert in 2012 brought the largest crowd by far – 10,000 people.
This year’s concert will be held April 4 at 8 p.m. on the Grove stage. The show is free to both students and the public.
– Emily Xie, staff writer, HottyToddy.com, yxie3@go.olemiss.edu