Despite tweets from indie rapper Hoodie Allen posted last Thursday, the Undergraduate Government of Boston College (UGBC) has denied that any contracts with an artist have been signed for this year’s Modstock.
Hoodie Allen, the stage name for New York artist Steven Markowitz, replied to a tweet on Thursday evening that read, “Wait @HoodieAllen for modstock……..” with the message, “yeah thanks to BC!” He tweeted a few other messages that night about the show, including ones that read, “haha sorry if that disappoints man I’ll try to be fun,” and, “ppl [sic] had been tweeting me i assumed it was bc [sic] it was announced so I was just striking friendly convo back! Haha and thank you :).”
Reached for comment on Friday, Denise Pyfrom, UGBC vice president of programming and A&S ’14, said that no contracts for an artist had been signed yet. She declined to comment on the tweets posted by Hoodie Allen.
In past years, Modstock has been a free concert hosted by UGBC that was open to all BC students on the last day of classes, which will fall on Thursday, May 1 this semester. Seattle rapper Macklemore headlined the show last year. It was the first ticketed Modstock, as BCPD, University administrators, and city officials determined the popularity of the artist required heightened security and a limit of 6,000 tickets.
UGBC has given no indication if this year’s Modstock will similarly have a cap on attendance or whether tickets will be free.
Macklemore’s show came after the announcement that UGBC had cancelled its usual Spring Concert and diverted its entire concert funding-a total of $95,000-into Modstock.
In the fall, UGBC’s programming department hosted one of the least financially successful concerts in recent history. With O.A.R. as the headliner and local rapper Moe Pope opening, there were 995 tickets sold, bringing in $23,325 in revenue against $133,701 in expenses. That total of $112,376 lost was the most since the 2010 Spring Concert, which lost $131,394.
Last weekend’s Plexapalooza, which featured Washington D.C. artist DJ Enferno, sold 900 tickets and broke even, according to Melanie MacLellan, programming manager of on-campus events and A&S ’14.
The Student Assembly voted in December to separate programming from the student government, making this year’s Modstock the last large-scale scale concert put on by UGBC.
Previous headliners for Modstock have included Reel Big Fish in 2012 and Sugar Ray in 2011. While Macklemore’s performance was announced by UGBC in late February last year, Reel Big Fish and Sugar Ray were not announced until late April.
Seaver’s Express, Juice, or Bobnoxious & the Master Craftsmen will open this year’s show after advancing to the finals of BC’s Battle of the Bands. The winner will be determined during this year’s Arts Fest.
News Editor Connor Farley also contributed to this report.
