Hip-hop artists Brother Ali and the Cool Kids will perform at Concert Board's annual Hip Hop Show on Nov. 12 — and they'll have a bit more breathing room than previous acts.
The show, which has typically been held at Dewick-MacPhie Dining Hall, will take place in the Rocco J. Carzo Cage in Cousens Gymnasium.
The change in venue from Dewick to Carzo comes after the 2008 Fall Rock Show, featuring Hellogoodbye, demonstrated that Dewick was unfit for large concert crowds.
"Evidently, during the show … the floor was moving as people were jumping up and down, and [we] brought it to the attention of the people in the Office for Campus Life [OCL]," said senior Robert Seiden, co-chair of Concert Board.
Carzo Cage, with a standing-room capacity of over 900, will offer more than twice as much room than Dewick did. "There really aren't that many locations on campus where you can have more than 350 people," said Concert Board Co-Chair Alan Munkacsy, a senior. "The cage is really the only available option that we thought would be a great spot for that kind of show."
But the new venue presents its own set of complications. Due to the cage's status as an active athletic space, Concert Board may have to delay the event because of a volleyball game.
Tufts' volleyball team has applied to host a tournament the weekend of the concert. If Tufts is selected, the tournament would include a game that is scheduled to overlap with the concert by about an hour.
Though the concert and game would take place in separate areas of the gym, the time of the concert would be pushed back to accommodate the team, Seiden said.
Tickets for the Hip Hop Show go on sale tomorrow in the campus center.
Brother Ali, a rapper from Minneapolis, has released six albums, the most recent of which, "Us," came out in September.
The Cool Kids, a hip-hop duo that gained renown in 2007 via MySpace.com, will open the show.
Revelations about capacity issues in Dewick prompted discussions between a number of departments, including the OCL, the Facilities Department and the Department of Public Safety, on how to host major social activities in the future.
"Facilities, Public Safety, OCL, and Dining [Services] met and determined that events where a large group of students would be moving in unison, such as a dance or concert, were no longer safe to hold in the space," the OCL's Assistant Director for Campus Life Jamie Engle said in an e-mail. Engle said that Dewick will still be used as a space for non-concert events like comedy shows and the annual Mr. Jumbo competition.
Last spring, the annual Jumbo Jam show, which had previously taken place in Dewick, was held at the Somerville Theatre in Davis Square. Jumbo Jam is geared more toward alternative and folk artists than Spring Fling and the Hip Hop and Rock Shows, making it a good fit for the theater.
"It was a great success, and we hope to return there for future Jumbo Jams or even other shows," Seiden said. The theater's fixed seating seemed inappropriate for the Hip Hop Show, which will be general admission and standing-room-only.
Seiden and Munkacsy examined several campus locations, including the Gantcher Center and other spaces within the Cousens complex.
Despite the hurdles, Seiden is optimistic. "I think it will be a great venue, probably even better than Dewick," he said.
Engle agreed that Carzo could potentially provide a permanent location for future Hip Hop Shows.
"We are excited to use the Cage for this year's first show and do not see any problems with the space," Engle said. "We are able to open the show to more students and hope this can become one of the spaces we use regularly for our shows."
