Final prep for ‘exciting’ week

With back-to-back shows on Wednesday and Thursday nights, SCOPE members and volunteers are gearing up for the Eli Young Band, J. Cole and a whole lot of fun.

The fun does not come without the price of hard work and preparation, however. 

“It’s going to be such a new and exciting experience for everyone,” Bethany Bucciarelli, SCOPE’s new publicity director for the 2012-2013 academic year, said. “It’s definitely going to be a lot of work, but we’re all going to learn a lot from it, too.”

SCOPE is planning to leave the stage set up overnight, but all of the lighting and other performance equipment has to be changed between concerts, due to the difference in genres. 

“It’s going to be one long day, really,” Bucciarelli said. 

So far over 2,300 tickets have been sold for the Eli Young Band concert, which is on Wednesday, May 2, and 3,800 tickets have been sold for the J. Cole concert on Thursday, May 3. Bucciarelli attributes this 1,500 ticket sales difference to the popularity of the two respective genres. 

She commented that the music that sells best on campus is hip-hop/rap. This is SCOPE’s first country concert. 

“I think that the country fans are very excited, but that the rest of the campus is unsure. There is a big hip-hop and rap scene here, and if students have an extra $20, they will probably choose to attend the J. Cole concert,” Bucciarelli said. 

However, country fans are definitely excited. They have been requesting a concert in their preferred genre for a long time. SCOPE maintains that the group surveys students each semester to get an idea for what the campus wants, but that it is difficult to please everyone. 

“I’m super pumped that scope finally got country. I can’t wait for the concert,” student Samantha Cunic said.

Another UNH student, Kelley McQuillin, agreed. 

“For once, there is a concert on campus I am actually excited to go see. Country music is a huge part of the UNH community, and I think SCOPE made an amazing decision to bring Eli Young Band here. It will be a good night, full of singing and dancing to some good music,” McQuillin said.

Students can also look forward to avoiding the inevitable stress of finals for a little while longer.

“I cannot wait to just have fun and not worry about finals for a little bit,” student Emily Bird said.

The security for the two shows also differs. Security for J. Cole will be almost identical to that of Avicii and David Guetta: a T-style barricade will be used. For Eli Young Band, however, a standard barricade will be used. This difference, according to current security director Casey Wade, is due to the nature of the shows and the crowds. 

“We use the ‘T-style’ barricade for most Whitt shows now to alleviate pressure on the crowd, reducing risk of serious injury,” Wade said. “Obviously [we are] using more barricades, [and] we must rent portions of it, increasing cost. The cost benefit of reducing risk in the crowd offsets the monetary cost of renting it. Judging from Avicii and David Guetta, this T-style barricade setup has worked extremely well.”

Other security measures include tiered ticketing to distinguish between floor and arena seating, and wristbands to help manage the number of people on the floor. 

SCOPE relies heavily on volunteers to ensure that the concerts run smoothly. Thirty - 40 volunteers total are needed for both nights; Bucciarelli said that she hoped for even more, and that there is always a mix of new and veteran volunteers. 

“The more hands, the better. We cannot do our concerts without the volunteers,” Bucciarelli said. 

As a student organization, SCOPE has to manage which acts it brings to UNH based on pricing and availability, which is not always the easiest feat, she said. However, Bucciarelli loves her work, and loves SCOPE. 

“When all of the small details come together, it’s magic,” Bucciarelli said.