THE IUP Football Thread

[Tdobson]

I was just wondering, when was Wiz there? I attended IUP from 1998 to 2003, and I do not recall that one.

[Fightingscot82]

I was just wondering, when was Wiz there? I attended IUP from 1998 to 2003, and I do not recall that one.

2018

[IUPNation]

At $40 per ticket, you’re not going to get many students. Definitely a play to get alumni in the door/community and at little cost to the KCAC. The Clarks played sold out back-to-back shows in the tiny Indiana Theatre last year and I can tell you the theatre doesn’t have much money so I’m guessing it’s not very expensive to book them these days.

As for the IUP party scene, you make some interesting points. It’s nothing like it used to be. Not even close. IUPatties has been bigger in legend than reality the last few years and the same for homecoming. Obviously there was the shooting in 2023 (still unsolved) but that was nowhere near campus and apparently involved few IUP students. The “up town” scene on weekends is sparse. As you point out, this is a different generation that’s wired in their own unique way that’s much different than boomers, Gen X, millennials, etc.

Wired..meaning they are on their phones all day and night. We had to go out to talk to people now it’s just non stop texting.

[iupgroundhog]

Wired..meaning they are on their phones all day and night. We had to go out to talk to people now it’s just non stop texting.

Looked at The Clark's website and I see they are booked at the Ardmore Music Hall in November. My old neighborhood. That's a pretty good venue in the Philly area. Especially for an aging group like The Clarks.

[IUP24]

2018

That's incorrect.

Wiz Khalifa was the first concert/event at the KCAC. It was the Homecoming concert in Fall 2011. He was a chart topping artist at the time. Whether you liked him or that genre, there were few bigger names in the entire industry than Wiz between 2009-2012. He had a sensational run. I know a ton of Pittsburgh people have an affinity to Mac Miller, but those two were never close in my opinion.

The fact IUP was able to book him was pretty incredible, to be honest. Didn't Cal open up the Convocation Center with Kenny Rodgers? I could be wrong, but I thought he was the marquee headliner that "opened" that venue...

[IUP24]

I was just wondering, when was Wiz there? I attended IUP from 1998 to 2003, and I do not recall that one.

Homecoming 2011.

[iupgroundhog]

That's incorrect.

Wiz Khalifa was the first concert/event at the KCAC. It was the Homecoming concert in Fall 2011. He was a chart topping artist at the time. Whether you liked him or that genre, there were few bigger names in the entire industry than Wiz between 2009-2012. He had a sensational run. I know a ton of Pittsburgh people have an affinity to Mac Miller, but those two were never close in my opinion.

The fact IUP was able to book him was pretty incredible, to be honest. Didn't Cal open up the Convocation Center with Kenny Rodgers? I could be wrong, but I thought he was the marquee headliner that "opened" that venue...

I don't understand why getting Wiz Khalifa for the KCAC is so incredible. The KCAC has been able to bring in a lot of well-known acts. That's one of the main, if not the main, purpose of the KCAC.

Not to mention the college circuit historically was always important for concerts. I can't remember them all, but I saw a number of top acts at IUP. I saw Hall & Oates, the biggest selling duo in recorded music history, in Memorial Field House. Probably about '79. I remember seeing Little River Band at IUP There were many others. I saw Richie Havens, who opened Woodstock, in the dining area of the Hardee's restaurant in the Student Union, LOL. As I recall, there was always a big name signature act every year at IUP, and that was before the KCAC.

P.S. Also in '79, I had tickets to see Stephen Stills at IUP but this was during the "no nukes" era and after the Three Mile Island meltdown Stills canceled all of his dates in Pennsylvania. That was disappointing. Indiana is about 150 miles from TMI.

[Fightingscot82]

That's incorrect.

Wiz Khalifa was the first concert/event at the KCAC. It was the Homecoming concert in Fall 2011. He was a chart topping artist at the time. Whether you liked him or that genre, there were few bigger names in the entire industry than Wiz between 2009-2012. He had a sensational run. I know a ton of Pittsburgh people have an affinity to Mac Miller, but those two were never close in my opinion.

The fact IUP was able to book him was pretty incredible, to be honest. Didn't Cal open up the Convocation Center with Kenny Rodgers? I could be wrong, but I thought he was the marquee headliner that "opened" that venue...

Thanks for correcting. I thought that seemed late and pulled it from a 2018 article that mentions him playing Homecoming.

[Fightingscot82]

I don't understand why getting Wiz Khalifa for the KCAC is so incredible. The KCAC has been able to bring in a lot of well-known acts. That's one of the main, if not the main, purpose of the KCAC.

Not to mention the college circuit historically was always important for concerts. I can't remember them all, but I saw a number of top acts at IUP. I saw Hall & Oates, the biggest selling duo in recorded music history, in Memorial Field House. Probably about '79. I remember seeing Little River Band at IUP There were many others. I saw Richie Havens, who opened Woodstock, in the dining area of the Hardee's restaurant in the Student Union, LOL. As I recall, there was always a big name signature act every year at IUP, and that was before the KCAC.

P.S. Also in '79, I had tickets to see Stephen Stills at IUP but this was during the "no nukes" era and after the Three Mile Island meltdown Stills canceled all of his dates in Pennsylvania. That was disappointing. Indiana is about 150 miles from TMI.

It used to be very different. The old college circuit was you'd try to book who was passing through on a bus tour, so Edinboro or Slippery Rock might have been able to pull in someone in between stops in Buffalo and Pittsburgh. Record sales were where the money was made, so they were happy to take a cut of the ticket sales. Today the entire tour is booked in advance with dates & locations approved by the artist for predetermined flat amount. Wiz recently played at Slippery Rock for $150k whether they sold 5,000 tickets or 50.

The KCAC is a fine venue but the challenge is the same as the old arena in Johnstown (which they essentially replaced), they have to convince someone to drive to Indiana, PA or at worst fly to Pittsburgh, rent proper equipment and a way to get to IUP. Small to mid concert booking now is a mess.

[IUPbigINDIANS]

I don't understand why getting Wiz Khalifa for the KCAC is so incredible. The KCAC has been able to bring in a lot of well-known acts. That's one of the main, if not the main, purpose of the KCAC.

Not to mention the college circuit historically was always important for concerts. I can't remember them all, but I saw a number of top acts at IUP. I saw Hall & Oates, the biggest selling duo in recorded music history, in Memorial Field House. Probably about '79. I remember seeing Little River Band at IUP There were many others. I saw Richie Havens, who opened Woodstock, in the dining area of the Hardee's restaurant in the Student Union, LOL. As I recall, there was always a big name signature act every year at IUP, and that was before the KCAC.

P.S. Also in '79, I had tickets to see Stephen Stills at IUP but this was during the "no nukes" era and after the Three Mile Island meltdown Stills canceled all of his dates in Pennsylvania. That was disappointing. Indiana is about 150 miles from TMI.

In the modern era, it's extremely rare for schools like IUP to get A-list acts.

This is more the not-quite-famous or the has-been circuit.

If you look at the bands IUP has had come in over the past 30 years, there are certainly some names (mostly in the 90s). However, most were all well past their prime.

Wiz was massive at the time. Still is but not like during that stretch.

The concerts as a whole are way, way down. They used to have shows seemingly monthly.

My personal view is the KCAC bombed on a couple musical acts (low ticket sales). The direction has seemed to shift toward professional wrestling, monster trucks, the Globetrotters ... things of that nature.

It's a big venue in a small town so if they take the risk of booking somebody it can't fail.

The KCAC can sell alcohol unlike the auditorium. But, you have to fill probably 75% of those 5,000 seats.

The Clarks are the perfect choice. They will sell the place out (or come extremely close to it). As mentioned above, they are probably doing it on the cheap -- alumni discount and all.

[IUP24]

I don't understand why getting Wiz Khalifa for the KCAC is so incredible.

At the time, Wiz Khalifa was a top five name in the industry. You can go through every genre. There were fewer artists who were bigger than him during that stretch. And it was not just a "western PA" obsession with him because of his song Black and Yellow which really put him on the map (I never cared for that song personally). I'm not really a fan of rap music. It's one of those genres that changes and evolves frequently, but overall, 85-90% of it just isn't for me. At the time, Wiz was doing things in that space that nobody else was really doing. He changed the game musically and stylistically in that genre during that time. You could turn on any mainstream radio station during the time period and you would hear them playing Wiz Khalifa. You would hear Taylor Swift's "Love Story" on the same station you'd hear "Work Hard, Play Hard" from Wiz. Generally speaking, that's not the norm. But that was how big he was at the time.

You hear that style on the radio more now because, like everything, music changes and evolves. But conceptually and stylistically, a lot of the things Wiz was doing 15 years ago is what you see now in that space. He was really the first modern rap artist to incorporate other production styles, verse choruses, etc., into his music. He put on a fantastic show when he was at IUP.

[IUP24]

In the modern era, it's extremely rare for schools like IUP to get A-list acts.

This is more the not-quite-famous or the has-been circuit.

If you look at the bands IUP has had come in over the past 30 years, there are certainly some names (mostly in the 90s). However, most were all well past their prime.

Wiz was massive at the time. Still is but not like during that stretch.

The concerts as a whole are way, way down. They used to have shows seemingly monthly.

My personal view is the KCAC bombed on a couple musical acts (low ticket sales). The direction has seemed to shift toward professional wrestling, monster trucks, the Globetrotters ... things of that nature.

It's a big venue in a small town so if they take the risk of booking somebody it can't fail.

The KCAC can sell alcohol unlike the auditorium. But, you have to fill probably 75% of those 5,000 seats.

The Clarks are the perfect choice. They will sell the place out (or come extremely close to it). As mentioned above, they are probably doing it on the cheap -- alumni discount and all.

Early on, I think IUP did a pretty good job of getting big-ish names for the KCAC. Two years after they had Wiz Khalifa, they booked Jake Owen. He wasn't an A-list country star, but he was a big name. Certainly was B+ at the time. Barefoot Blue Jean night was the #1 country song on the charts when he came to IUP.

They had some others as well. Scotty McCreery came there when I was at school. He won American Idol and has had pretty good staying power within country music. Eli Young Band (same tier as Scotty McCreery) also performed at the KCAC, I think.

I do agree with you that they don't seem to have many concerts. They used to have them all the time. I do think as a whole, the music/concert industry has changed significantly since the pandemic. Concerts were never this in demand. Tickets for concerts were never this expensive. Artists seem to be way more selective with the number of shows they play, where they perform, the venue arrangements, etc. When I was in college/just out of college, you may have paid a little bit more than you wanted to go to a show, but if you wanted to go, you could always get tickets. It's simply not like that now. There's nothing to gain for any moderate name to play at the KCAC anymore.

The demand to see some of these shows (and I'm not talking Taylor Swift level artists either) is just unreal. You have to go through a presale process, a lottery, etc., just to even have the opportunity to buy tickets anymore. And then because the process is so challenging or exclusive just to get tickets, it drives demand through the roof on the secondary market because so few people actually had an opportunity to even have a shot to get the tickets.

Right, wrong, or indifferent, I think people are much "looser" with their entertainment dollars and entertainment spending since 2020.I think people have a massive FOMO complex, which drives up the price on the secondary market. Anything that's deemed fun, popular, or "can't miss" nowadays results in consumers spending whatever necessary just to take a couple of pictures to later post on Instagram with a clever caption saying they were there (which is what truly was going on with The Eras Tour in my opinion - attending was a status/presence thing, not going because you loved her music).

[Chuck Norris]

In the modern era, it's extremely rare for schools like IUP to get A-list acts.

This is more the not-quite-famous or the has-been circuit.

If you look at the bands IUP has had come in over the past 30 years, there are certainly some names (mostly in the 90s). However, most were all well past their prime.

Wiz was massive at the time. Still is but not like during that stretch.

The concerts as a whole are way, way down. They used to have shows seemingly monthly.

My personal view is the KCAC bombed on a couple musical acts (low ticket sales). The direction has seemed to shift toward professional wrestling, monster trucks, the Globetrotters ... things of that nature.

It's a big venue in a small town so if they take the risk of booking somebody it can't fail.

The KCAC can sell alcohol unlike the auditorium. But, you have to fill probably 75% of those 5,000 seats.

The Clarks are the perfect choice. They will sell the place out (or come extremely close to it). As mentioned above, they are probably doing it on the cheap -- alumni discount and all.

To my knowledge, it’s been years since they’ve even had a pro wrestling or monster truck show. I couldn’t go when the WWE did a show in, I want to say 2016 or 2017. Now they don’t nearly as many non televised live events so it’s probably unlikely they’ll come back.

I’m not even sure what sort of shows play there anymore, granted I don’t look all that closely. My wife and I saw Josh Gates (he’s all over the Discovery channel for those who don’t know) at the Palace Theatre in Greensburg last month. He’s certainly the type of act you would’ve seen somewhere at IUP back when we were students.

[iupgroundhog]

I'll have to take everybody's word for it because I really don't listen to music recorded during the current millennium. Most of the artists I listen to are either dead or dying. At least I've got YouTube. Thanks, Chad.

[Bart]

I'll have to take everybody's word for it because I really don't listen to music recorded during the current millennium. Most of the artists I listen to are either dead or dying. At least I've got YouTube. Thanks, Chad.

As a student at Bloom I saw some good concerts, including Billy Joel, The Kinks, Renaissance, Harry Chapin, The Outlaws and Firefall, Just remembered most of the people I worked with are dead or dying.