Bingo Players will headline the Student Association’s first ever “Electric Tundra” concert on April 17.
The EDM (electric dance music) concert will also host 3LAU (pronounced “Blau”) and DNNYD.
Bingo Players – composed of Dutch artist Maarten Hoogstraten – will headline inside Alumni Arena. The concert is a new engagement in addition to SA’s annual Spring Fest, which will be held May 2 with a yet-to-be-released alternative rock headliner, according to SA President James Ingram. The cost of talent for the EDM show is just under $90,000, Ingram said.
SA is still finalizing production costs of the concert, but Ingram said he thinks inside Alumni is the best place on campus for EDM shows, which are known for elaborate light setups.
There will be 1,500 tickets set aside for the general public for $30; students will be able to get concert admission with a valid student ID on a first come, first serve basis the night of the show. The concert is funded through SA, paid by students’ mandatory student activity fee. This year, that fee was $94.75 each semester, but it will be $10 higher starting in the fall.
“We were looking at our budget and thought we could put together a good EDM show and have money left to put together a good Spring Fest concert,” Ingram said. “I wanted to make sure we switched up the genres a little.”
Ingram said SA made it a mission this year to provide a variety of genres to students – that’s why SA made a survey in the fall.
In a poll of 1,119 students, SA found a slight majority wanted an EDM show at 414 votes. Other popular genres included pop with 406 votes, hip-hop with 399 and rock with 396.
With the top choices so close, Ingram said he wanted to put on shows that met the varying tastes among UB’s roughly 20,000 undergraduates. At the annual concert Fall Fest, SA kept with a hip-hop trend, bringing Schoolboy Q and T.I.
Ingram said he hopes students enjoy the change up this spring.
Bingo Players, once a duo before the death of Hoogstraten’s partner Paul Baümer in 2013, is currently on a world tour and has performed at New York's Electric Zoo. Their songs feature bouncing synthesizer and guitar-like riffs, accompanied with strong, driving beats. They went from the house scene when they started in 2006 and are now an EDM giant with songs like “Nothing to say,” “Get up (Rattle), “Cry (Just a little) and “Mode.”
3LAU, the stage name for artist Justin Blau, has also performed at Electric Zoo and released the track “Viking” last year on Dim Mak Records. DNNYD, an up-and-comer in the EDM scene, released his track “Get the Party Going” this year.
Ingram, a self-identified EDM fan, is looking forward to SA’s lineup.
“I’m glad we were able to bring in a genre that students had a say in and that students should be excited about," he said. "Bingo Players and 3LAU are great EDM acts and are going to bring a good show to Buffalo.”
But Ingram said he’s aware of the negative connotation that sometimes comes with the EDM scene, which is often linked to drug abuse.
“It’s a valid concern,” Igram said. “It came to mind for me because you do, almost semi-regularly, see these horror stories of a large group of young people, students, ending up in the hospital because they’ve all taken a bad batch of some sort of drug.”
Ingram said he talked to Student Life about these concerns and is working to ensure security is aware of the potential danger that can come from parts of EDM culture.
Ingram said he isn’t sure if SA executive boards in the future will divide the budget up to fund two shows in the spring, rather than the traditional one, but he said this year – especially considering the poll – it made sense.
“The goal was really to cover as many genres this year as we could,” he said.
Sara DiNatale is the editor in chief, you can reach her at sara.dinatale@ubspectrum.com
