Girl Talk Show Proves a Success for UGBC

On Saturday, the Undergraduate Government of Boston College (UGBC), hosted popular mash-up artist Girl Talk. The event took place in the Plex and was a precursor to the annual spring concert that will take place at the end of April.

Despite safety concerns prior to the event, the night was incident-free, with Girl Talk performing for longer than the allotted hour.

"Overall, the night went great," said James D'Ambra, UGBCexecutive director of campus entertainment and A&S '10, in an e-mail. "We had tremendously positive feedback from the students who were in attendance. We had no major issues with the event, which is also a very important determinant."

"The event was very successful," said Sam Lipscomb, UGBC executive director of communications and A&S '10. "I thought [the student body] did a good job of maintaining themselves."

The show began with opening act Big Digits, a Cambridge-based group that provided some of its own music, as well as mixes. "We wanted to have a mid-semester event to gear people up for the spring concert, which is going to be really late this year – probably not until the end of April," Lipscomb said, referring to the show's deviance from the usual spring programming schedule.

Lipscomb, whose responsibility is to publicize UGBC events, said, "[Girl Talk] basically publicized itself." The event sold 1,400 tickets within three and a half hours last Monday morning, leaving some students unsatisfied. "Hopefully people understood the safety concerns that were involved," she said.

"We knew there was a buzz surrounding Girl Talk," D'Ambra said. "But we never anticipated that we would sell out so quickly."

The Plex, while not a conventional music venue, provided more dance room than Conte Forum. "The basic process of set up was similar to that in Conte Forum," D'Ambra said. "There were some logistical challenges that were confronted in order to keep the Plex in operation while setting up."

UGBC organizers strived to provide enough space for students while allowing proximity to the stage, Lipscomb said. "We wanted everyone to be safe, so we didn't go over capacity limits for the Plex."

A select group of students were allowed on stage during the event. These students were given wristbands given out by UGBC event staff. "A very specific number of people were allowed on stage to dance by [Girl Talk]," Lipscomb said. "This controlled the number of people swarming around him and messing with his equipment."

Girl Talk's management team limited the number of wristbands distributed to 30. "This number was based on making sure that Girl Talk would have an energetic environment on stage, while keeping the student body safe at the same time," D'Ambra said. "We wanted to make sure that those who were selected to receive wristbands by Girl Talk's spotters had fun and were not at any safety risk."

In planning the event and securing Girl Talk as the featured artist, D'Ambra and Maureen Keegan, assistant director of campus entertainment and A&S '10, did their research. "Students may not realize, but an event such as this takes an incredible amount of planning," D'Ambra said. "We have been working since June 2009 to secure a space for this event. The process of securing Girl Talk was the same as that which we go through for any other concert that we have. We started negotiations back in the fall and had the event set before winter break."

Regarding the November 2008 Girl Talk concert at Harvard that was cut short when neither the DJ nor the police could control the disorderly crowd, D'Ambra and Keegan said, "UGBC Campus Entertainment's primary concern is safety and security. We always balance the enjoyment of the students with their safety and security. As such, working with BCPD and Girl Talk, we did everything necessary to ensure the safety and security of the student body. The fact that we had no major issues is a testament to its successful planning."

Although the event, overall, went smoothly, Lipscomb said, "There's always going to be a few students, though, who drink too much and get taken out."

"Whenever we have a large-scale event on campus, we always take alcohol into consideration," D'Ambra said.

However, D'Ambra and Keegan said, "the student body was not out of control by any means. BC students are often not given enough credit for maintaining decorum while enjoying an event. The student body overall was reasonable and respectful, and there were not a significant number of students escorted out of the event."