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The minute classes get out on Friday, there is a good chance that students will flock to the library for something other than finals.
Before multiple attempts at a last-minute cram session, students can check out an interactive village and meet some of their favorite bands behind Fogler Library as a part of the mtvU Campus Invasion Tour that will make its final stop of the year on May 5.
“It’s great. Maine Day is fun, but it’s still about working, whether you are studying or doing community service,” said Vice President of Student Entertainment Derek Mitchell. “MtvU is about having a good time and taking a few hours off from studying to hear some great music, and enjoy your last weekend at UMaine before summer.”
Normally, on the last day of classes not too much goes on, but when Mitchell was able to book the tour to come to Orono, he figured that having the event would be a good way to end the semester.
Performing at the event will be bands Motion City Soundtrack, Straylight Run and Hellogoodbye.
Hellogoodbye may be best known to viewers who religiously watch MTV. Along with winning MTV2′s “Circuit Breakout,” the Huntington Beach band was also featured on “The Real World: Austin.” Besides appearing on the tour, the quartet will also be playing at the Vans Warped Tour over the summer.
After Hellogoodbye performs, Straylight Run will follow. The band was formed in 2003, once members Shaun Cooper and John Nolan left Taking Back Sunday. Since that time, Cooper and Nolan have combined with Nolan’s sister Michelle, and Will Noon to form the group whose self-titled, debut album was on the Billboard Top 100.
“As someone who goes to concerts a lot, I am a little torn about whether or not this show will be received well by everyone,” said WMEB Program Director Mary Holt. “Younger students will be all excited that some well-known bands are actually coming all the way up here, and older students will pretend that they think it is super lame because they are ‘too cool for school.’”
“Like it or not, this is a great opportunity and it is very cool that this is going down.”
The last band that is scheduled to perform is headliner Motion City Soundtrack.
In 2004, the band also toured with Blink-182. During the tour Mark Hoppus, the bassist for the SoCal group said that he was interested in working with them. Hoppus, who recently left Blink-182 to work on other projects, produced the band’s second album, “Commit This To Memory.”
Some of the names that have performed on the tour in previous years have been Hoobastank, Moby, Muse and Wyclef Jean.
Concertgoers can also look forward the interactive village that will have activities including DJ Scratch Academy, music video challenges, a bungee run and a gaming lounge. The mtvU network will have cameras on-hand to interview students and capture the local college scene. For those who do end up on camera, they can tell their friends as the network is on the campus television network.
The village will also serve a meet-and-great of the bands. Besides talking up summer plans, tour attendees can also check out the various tents and booths that will be setup by Nintendo and Old Spice who, along with a few other companies, co-sponsor the nationwide tour. Although the concert will start later in the day, the village will be open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Tickets for the event were available as of April 20, and can be obtained at the information booth in Memorial Union. Students need only to show their Maine Card for a free ticket.
Besides getting tickets in person, students were able to get them on Friday night via the umainetix.com Web site. The Web site will allow about 1,000 tickets to be available to the public for $10 plus services charges. Non-students must be over 18 and they are required to bring a valid ID to the show.
This will be the second spring concert that Student Government has orchestrated this semester.
Bangor Daily News