Punk
concert to rock The Beach
By Kristen Wooley
On-line Forty-Niner
Look
out Long Beach, the punks are invading this
summer and Cal State Long Beach is one of
this year’s destinations for the 2003 Vans
Warped Tour.
Forty
bands and five stages will be going off
at the rugby field and the surrounding fields
behind The Pyramid. With an estimated 15,000
fans to attend, the campus will buzz with
punk rock bliss. This event is hoped to
boost the campuses otherwise stagnant reputation
of paling in comparison to the UC system’s
event planning, Guido Piotti, vice president
of Associated Students Inc. said.
“I
hope to see a huge student turn out. This
will definitely put Cal State Long Beach
on the map, and it will be something to
brag about on campus,” Piotti said.
The
general admission will be $27, but students
get in for $20.
“The
thing students should know is the event
will raise $20,000 for A.S.I. At the end
of the day [the money} goes back to students
anyway,” Piotti said. “Fifty cents of every
ticket will go towards scholarships for
all students and with the estimated outcome,
that should be around $7,500.”
Piotti
said he hopes tickets will be going on sale
before school is out until the concert,
but any student with a spring or summer
sticker is eligible to buy a ticket soon.
Included
in the Warped Tour will be the sounds of
Rancid, AFI, Sum 41, Pennywise, Cold Fusion,
Less Than Jake and more.
Piotti
said that the tedious process of getting
such a high profile event on campus. He
said he’s been a promoter for eight years
and have come to know several people in
the industry, including Paul Tollet, the
president of Golden Voice and the promoter
for the Warped Tour.
Tollet,
who was a graduate of CSULB, was asked by
Piotti to have the concert on campus.
“The
mood was perfect, everything was perfect
and I just had to get the OK,” Piotti said.
Speaking
with the campus police, parking services
and The Pyramid managers were only a few
of the steps taken to ensure smooth sailing
for the concert.
“It’s
been a goal of ours to have a concert,”
Danny Vivian, A.S.I. president said. “We
knew we’d have roadblocks, but we were able
to communicate well and surprisingly we
haven’t met much resistance.”
One
of the more difficult tasks in coordinating
the event will be regulating parking of
which senior director of Parking Transportation
and Event Services Thomas Bass said, still
needs some ironing out.
“Since
it’s during summer there will be more flexibility.
We are thinking about utilizing the east
side including lot 11 and when that fills
up we will move to the west side,” Bass
said.
Another
problem that parking services will have
to solve is working around the parking for
other events that are scheduled for the
same day. One of the events may be the Summer
Pro League for basketball and that could
draw a good-sized crowd.
“I
want to encourage students not to forget
about Warped Tour because it is over the
summer,” Vivian said. “A.S.I. is doing its
best to have quality events on campus in
the future as well.”
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