For most Northwestern students attending Death Cab for Cutie’s Friday concert at the Rivera Theater in Chicago, the show will be a boisterous night of Billboard-topping, Grammy-nominated indie rock. For members of A&O Productions, it will be the culmination of more than four months of e-mails, phone calls, negotiations and the immense workload that goes into organizing a single night’s concert.
A&O (Activities and Organizations) brings several musical acts, speakers and films to Northwestern each year. “We’re the oldest student group on campus and one of the most well-known,” said Barry McCardel, co-director of promotions and public relations and Communication sophomore, “because our mission statement is to bring high-quality entertainment that appeals to the entire campus.”
No doubt the events are well-known and have appeal — last spring’s Flight of the Concords show sold out in 45 minutes. But how does A&O get these bands and speakers?
The process of putting on an A&O event goes in six steps.
I. Inquiries
Somewhere in the tiny, cluttered A&O Norris office — shared by two other student groups — there are huge lists of potential bands and speakers. They’ve been suggested by A&O members, e-mailed in by students and overheard from roommates.
Before any contacts with agents or bands are made though, A&O goes through a first-round narrowing process. “We also try to double-check our assumptions about which artists would be most popular,” says Weinberg senior Forrest Wickman, A&O’s director of concerts. “We look on Facebook, to see which artists are listed under Northwestern students’ favorite music.”
Unlike many organizations, A&O eschews “middle agents” and sends inquiries directly to an artist or speaker’s agent. “We communicate directly with the agents because we have a really good relationship,” says McCardel. Contacting agents directly also cuts down on confusion.
Even with direct contact, the likelihood of rejection is high: The proposed guest might be touring elsewhere, recording an album, on vacation or just unwilling. For getting speakers, “it’s easier in some ways, but more difficult in others,” says Weinberg junior Adam Pumm, A&O’s director of speakers. Speakers have fewer conflicts but often have to be flown from New York or Hollywood.
With Death Cab for Cutie, “we were particularly lucky,” says Wickman. A&O had tried and failed to book Death Cab before, but this year the stars aligned. Of the five or seven bands contacted, “Death Cab seemed like they not only would be the most popular, but also the most available,” Wickman adds.
II. Narrowing
If there’s some positive response from agents or a group, A&O starts to hone in on a final option.
In this phase, A&O’s ten committees investigate the feasibility of their options. The committees re-evaluate the popularity and availability of potential guests, as well as possible venues and the band or speaker’s live-performance quality.
Of great importance is the honorarium — the sum of all fees paid by A&O — which they typically petition the Student Activities Fund for. For the spring Counting Crows concert, “we would have intense meetings,” says A&O chairperson Syd Cohen, a fifth-year Weinberg and Music senior. “We’d be here for hours upon hours going through every single way that we could possibly move some money to make a larger honorarium.”
III. Booking
Once A&O has decided on an artist, they extend an offer to the band or speaker. Included are the honorarium, date, venue, and a number of conditions, such as lodging and transportation. The guest’s agent then replies with a pass, confirmation, or — often — a renegotiation, asking for perhaps a higher honorarium or larger venue.
Next comes the contract. Bands and speakers frequently have a standardized contract that they send to wherever they will visit; Northwestern’s Center for Student Involvement and legal department now add “riders” to the contract, amending the contract to suit Northwestern guidelines.
“There are certain things that a band like Death Cab might expect at a show at a regular venue that Northwestern doesn’t want to provide,” says Pumm about hospitality riders, which specify amenity restrictions. “The majority are focused on reducing the university’s liability.” For instance, Northwestern won’t pay for a guest’s alcohol or allow it in university buildings.
“Some bands can be pretty picky [about equipment] because of their sponsorships,” adds McCormick senior Bryan Cowan, A&O’s director of productions, discussing technical riders. “We have to look it over and make sure that it’s something we’ll be able to provide for them.”
With Death Cab, again, there were very few problems: “It did go exceptionally smoothly,” says Wickman. The only issue: finding a workable venue big enough. “At least in recent memory, we had not done a fall show at the Riv[iera Theatre].”
IV. Production
The production phase, leading up to the event, involves seemingly countless tasks: figuring out staging and sound, deciding who gets how much of merchandise profit, producing tickets, seeking corporate sponsors and negotiating with Student Affairs, just to name a few.
If it sounds like a gigantic mess, it’s not. “It’s incredibly organized and streamlined,” Cohen says. “There’s a process, and a lot of things are going on simultaneously. We know what we’re doing, and it’s almost innate to us at this point.”
Another big moment for A&O is the announcement of the concert, followed by a promotional campaign — which has actually been planned since the original confirmation. The announcement of Death Cab for Cutie was done in stylish triplicate: Simultaneously, a post went on the website, campus media were contacted, and a pre-made poster was slipped into Norris’ Dittmar Gallery (which was already hosting a display of A&O posters).
The various elements, details, and kinks of production are worked on constantly up until the day of the show. “We’re still working,” producer Cowen declares two days before the Death Cab show. “I’m still working with the production people on both ends.”
V. Show Day
Depending on the venue, show day can either be fairly relaxed or insane. A speaker, for instance, is usually less demanding than a band. And for Death Cab on Friday, most of the work has been outsourced to the pros at the Riviera. A&O members will co-ordinate buses, take shifts at will call, and leave shortly after the concert.
But there are always problems that arise: artists’ planes landing late, drivers getting lost, missing equipment. Pumm remembers one show-day fix for OK Go: “I had to drive down to Arlington Heights to get a glockenspiel.”
“You feel a sense of ownership over the day,” says Cohen. Laughing, she adds, “Producers thrive off of adrenaline and stress. If you don’t like the eleventh hour, you’re not meant to be a producer.”
Of course, what goes up must come down, and that includes the stage. Once the last power chord has been blasted, the breakdown begins, and can last well into the early morning. Still, just as with the setup, A&O say it’s a highlight, not a chore. “We save money, and it’s a good team-building experience,” Cowan says.
VI. Aftermath
It’s not quite over when it’s over. There’s the occasional next-day responsibility — like driving the guest back to the airport. Doing so in the spring, Cohen and Cowan ended up in a Blender interview with Bret McKenzie (of Flight of the Concords). “If you read them talking about ‘giggling girls’ — that’s me and Bryan,” Cohen laughs.
Wickman remembers the feeling after a day of building, then tearing down, an entire stage, which he calls “post-show soreness… You think your hands are just dirty, then you wash them, and there’s a thousand microscopic cuts from the metal.”
Any regrets? Any hesitations? Absolutely not. After the Death Cab show on Friday, Cowan says, there’s no stopping to rest. “This show will end, we’ll have our post-production meeting Sunday, and on Monday we’ll be thinking about the next show.”
“This,” Cohen declares, “is what we all live for at Northwestern.”