Hip-hop artist P-Lo will headline the first of two Spring Fever concerts at the Via Carta Mall outside of Campus Market Friday, May 10 at 7 p.m.
The Spring Fever series replaces Spring Stampede, which was held in the ASI Lower Sports Complex the last four years.
“We had to reevaluate what we had been doing with Spring Stampede. In the recent years, we had seen the attendance go down and we figured we wanted to better utilize student fees, and better use their money for more concerts since there is such a variety of genres that people at this school are into,” experience industry management senior and Musical Entertainment Student Assistant at ASI Events Jennie Diaz said. “We figured it was the most bang for our buck to have multiple concerts that reached more students.”
P-Lo, a Filipino artist from the Bay Area, averages 650,000 monthly listeners on Spotify and will perform at Outside Lands this summer. Some of his most popular songs are “Never Goin’ Broke” (feat. Kehlani) and “same squad.”
“[We were drawn to] his energy. You can even look at his performances on Youtube and the energy and the crowd engagement is such an awesome thing that he brings to the table,” Diaz said. “I think that is something that really enhances a concert experience for students, especially students that might not get to go to concerts all that often.”
After surveying campus, ASI found the main genres students were interested in seeing on campus were hip-hop, pop and rap.
“We definitely also looked at the demographics of Cal Poly and a lot of students come from [Northern California], and Bay Area hip-hop is a huge thing up there. So we thought it would be awesome to bring a local artist that was from the same kind of area that a lot of students have come from,” Diaz said.
Overall, ASI looked into how they could offer more than one type of experience for Cal Poly students, as concerts are a main desire from the student community, according to ASI Programs Coordinator Missi Allison-Bullock .
“We looked at the whole year and what we had offered already, the budget that would have possibly gone into Spring Stampede, melded that altogether and made it a big picture view of what we’ve done, where we want to be, how we want to meet students’ needs, and how we honestly want to spend their money and make it more bang for the buck,” Allison-Bullock said.
The next performer for part two of Spring Fever will be announced in the coming weeks once the artist’s contract is finalized, according to Diaz.
“I think [concert events] have a huge impact on students. I think it’s a chance for a lot of different types of people to be in one place at one time, and to be in this community that they might not normally be in and experience the same kind of emotions and feelings. I think it’s a huge component of college experiences,” Diaz said.