On April 14, the Undergraduate Government of Boston College (UGBC) confirmed that indie rapper Hoodie Allen will headline Boston College’s 2014 Modstock concert, playing a free show on Thursday, May 1, with opener San Francisco-based artist DJ Earworm beginning at 3:30 p.m.
According to Denise Pyfrom, UGBC vice president of programming and A&S ’14, this year’s Modstock artists were chosen based on data collected from an open feedback survey on UGBC’s Facebook and OrgSync webpages during the winter.
“We were pleased with the amount of students who participated in the survey, and we look forward to putting on another fun and safe Modstock,” Pyfrom said. “Both artists are extremely talented and cater to the genres that the BC community indicated that they liked the most.”
Prior to the spring of 2013, UGBC funded two concerts during the second academic semester-the Spring Concert and Modstock-but has since cancelled the Spring Concert in an effort to direct most of its concert-planning budget toward Modstock. In 2013, UGBC reallocated $95,000 away from its annual Spring Concert and into Modstock.
According to Melanie MacLellan, programming manager of on-campus events and A&S ’14, UGBC’s budget for this year was between $60,000 and $70,000 for booking, production costs, security expenses, and other financial outlays.
Last year’s concert was headlined by rap act Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, and previous years have featured artists such as Sugar Ray, Reel Big Fish, and Motion City Soundtrack.
The concert, organized by the programming department of UGBC, is scheduled to take place on the Mod parking lot on the last day of classes. The official announcement from UGBC came two weeks after Hoodie Allen publically stated from his Twitter account that he would be performing at BC.
On March 28, Hoodie Allen-the stage name for Steven Markowitz-tweeted in response to a BC student that he would be playing the concert. At the time, according to Denise Pyfrom, vice president of Programming for UGBC, no contracts for an artist had been signed at the time of his tweet. He later posted that he assumed the news had been announced after receiving tweets about the rumored performance.
“UGBC waited to announce the artist until the 14th because we do not release our performers officially until contracts have been signed, ensuring that this performer will be coming to BC,” MacLellan said in an email. “We released as soon as the contracts were signed by all necessary parties.”
A New York-based rapper and graduate from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, Hoodie Allen has self-released three EPs and four mixtapes, and is largely known for his song “No Interruption.”
The May 1 show will be one of 24 publically announced concerts Allen will perform as part of his tour, entitled “Hanging with Hoodie.”
