The Concert Board should be applauded for bringing Billy Joel to Cohen next month. His show will likely be the most eagerly-anticipated performance event for the year, as the campus has been abuzz since the Daily broke the story last month. Joel is a musical juggernaut, the likes of which Tufts has not seen in recent years.
The details of the event, announced at a press conference yesterday, seem surprisingly reasonable. The move to online purchasing is an unprecedented arrangement that eliminates the possibility of fans setting up camp outside Aidekman. But the Concert Board's decision to open the virtual ticket windows at 10 p.m. gives no advantage to die-hard fans, who would gladly arise as early as 6 a.m. for a chance at the tickets. An earlier time would lessen the traffic on the site, and dampen the disappointment among serious Joel fans, who could find solace in the knowledge that the tickets went to students whose dedication to Joel brought them out of bed before sunrise.
If properly executed, the ticket sale will be a seminal achievement for tuftslife.com, which has already established itself as the premiere online resource for Tufts students. Concert Board should also explore the possibility of providing a live video feed of the concert into the Jackson gym, as was done when former-Senator Bill Bradley spoke last fall. Hundreds of additional students could see the concert, which will assuredly sell out in as little time as is technologically possible.
There is no reason that the administration should not subsidize an event of this scale to reduce the $35 price tag of tickets, which is prohibitively high for some members of the Tufts community. If the University helps foot the bill, perhaps the fall rap show would not be cancelled, an unfortunate consequence of the Joel event that will surly disappoint rap fans who do not share the same fervor for Joel that is spreading across campus.
The Concert Board, moreover, should do its part by releasing the ten tickets the body reserved for the performance into the general pool and paying for any tickets its members ultimately receive.
