Aram Richard, director of AU's Student Union Board, is frustrated.
"We've lost five big shows this semester: Queens of the Stone Age, The White Stripes, Audioslave, A Perfect Circle and Korn," he said. Richard attributes SUB's losses to either conflicting dates with Bender Arena reservations or Bender's inferior floor.
SUB Cinema director Bridget Zerner also expressed annoyance regarding SUB's lost opportunities.
"It's fun not getting the shows we could have booked," Zerner said sarcastically. "We get off on it."
Shaun May, assistant director of communication for Athletics, said the athletic facilities and operations office offers SUB a series of dates every semester.
"The dates offered this semester, aside from homecoming, were Aug. 29, 30, 31 and Sept. 5, 6, and 7," Richard said. "One of those dates falls on Labor Day weekend, which no promoter wants to touch."
Booking shows on Labor Day weekend is a gamble since many students leave campus. Yet, because it takes a day to remove the floor and a day to put it back in, SUB could not simply just book a concert on a day when athletic teams don't have practice.
"Bender's floor can't support the weight of people jumping up and down at a concert, so we have to take the aid of the three-day process. Richard said SUB would rent a rubber pad to cover the floors in an effort to avoid removing it, but the floor is hollow and still wouldn't be able to support the weight.
However, the quality of the floor depreciates every time the facilities crew removes it, Richard said.
"The grooves between the floor pieces get wider apart," Richard said.
Richard considered the possibility of placing seats on top of the floor.
"No acts would lend themselves to playing seated shows. The Foo Fighters and The White Stripes wouldn't play to seats," he said. "In the case that the act would agree to a seated show, we would lose that show to DAR Constitution Hall, which has built-in seats, as opposed to a gym with chairs in it."
As a result of the limitations SUB has faced using Bender, it will put more money from its Bender account toward its Tavern account.
"We want to have shows, so we'll use our budget to facilitate that regardless," Richard said.
Jason Geisinger, assistant director of SUB, views this year's bookings as an experiment.
"Last year we booked 64 concerts - over 200 bands. But nobody knew who those bands were," he said. "This year we're focusing on bigger shows with less frequency."
SUB plans to gauge how students react to decreased frequency and increased name recognition.
As junior Dustin Wolinsky said, this could be a good move.
"It's a better idea that they have more recognizable names, but it depends on how they choose those names," said Wolinsky. "If SUB chooses a recognizable name that no one likes it defeats the purpose. Ultimately, you can't satisfy everyone since people's tastes vary."
Students have criticized SUB on a number of different accounts. For instance, many express dissatisfaction at being charged for the Dashboard Confessional show this semester.
However, Richard said that if SUB opted for a free show, the year's budget would have been drained, and no other well-recognized entertainment could be brought to campus.
"We brought four bands, one of which had a No. 1 record, two others that had top 40 singles," he said in defense of the $20 admission price.
Students also expressed disappointment with the hype surrounding the Mighty Mighty Bosstones show last year. The Roots were the original band booked to play Bender last year, but they cancelled two weeks in advance to play Catholic University of America instead. The Bosstones were SUB's next presented offer, Geisinger said.
"We take the best of what we can get at the time its available," he added.
SUB has brought a myriad of popular artists on campus in the past, including Nirvana, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Weezer, but in recent years the names have not been as big.
SUB's next show will be Andrew W.K. on October 23 in the Tavern.
