Sons of Ace band will open at Fling

Popular local reggae band Sons of Ace will open this year's Spring Fling, officials announced last night. This decision brings to three the number of acts set to take the stage during the outdoor show later this month at Hill Field. The other acts are the Indigo Girls, a Grammy-winning folk guitar duo, and Gerard McHugh, an acoustic guitarist who is touring with the Indigo Girls. "We wanted a band that had name recognition in the Philadelphia area," said Fling Co-director Rob Cohen yesterday. "We also wanted to diversify the musical venue. We thought that Sons of Ace was the best band to combine the two." He said the band will start its set at about 7:30 p.m. April 19, with McHugh playing from about 8:30 to 9 p.m. and the Indigo Girls performing at around 9 p.m. Ed Gold, a co-director of the Social Planning and Events Committee Concerts committee, said adding the third band has prompted the committee to rent another stage for the performance. The Indigo Girls specify that their stage be set up for their acoustic performance. The Indigo Girls will play on a covered stage and the local band will play on an uncovered platform. He added that despite the move, Fling will stay within its budget. "We didn't want to compromise our ultimate goal because of their limitations," Gold said last night. Cohen also said last night that four of the vendors who are set to sell their wares in the Quadrangle during the daytime portion of Fling will move to Hill for the evening concert. He declined to specify which vendors would be represented but said they would sell "everything from Mexican [food] to ice cream." Cohen also said students have bought about 2500 tickets for the show, which sell for $6. He said he hopes the announcement of the third act will push students to purchase the remaining 2500. "We're hoping that people who would not have gone to the Indigo Girls alone will go to see Sons of Ace too," he said. "We don't think we'll have a problem at all [selling the remaining tickets]."

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