It won't exactly be like his past sold-out concerts at the First Union Center or Madison Square Garden, but when Billy Joel takes the stage for "An Evening of Questions, Answers and a Little Music" in Irvine Auditorium tonight, he will undoubtedly have the crowd's rapt attention. After all, they will be fortunate just to have a seat in the house.
Joel's appearance at Penn is a rarity on a campus that usually welcomes marquee musical acts only during Homecoming, Spring Fling and the Penn Relays. That ticket prices for the question-and-answer event were set so low -- $5 with a valid PennCard -- is further testament to the efforts of both SPEC Connaissance and the provost's office, which are co-sponsoring and -subsidizing the event.
Unfortunately, an overwhelmingly small percentage of the Piano Man's fans on campus will be afforded the chance to see him in person. Irvine Auditorium, after all, can only hold so many people, and a blind lottery can't possibly determine the 500 biggest Joel fans on campus.
A small but aggressive group, though, will apparently be watching Joel in the place of many deserving Penn students. Thanks to their willingness to pay high prices -- and the willingness of some lucky lottery winners to part with their prizes in exchange for the cash -- these "special guests" will be watching courtesy of scalped tickets. And that, put simply, is wrong.
While there is no concrete method for ensuring that only Penn students and staff are granted entry to today's performance and future events, both Connaissance and the University can improve the ticket distribution process to ensure that only dedicated fans win tickets to an event that is, at least partially, funded through their tuition dollars.
Penn, for one, must take stronger steps to curb the scalping of tickets -- any tickets -- on their sponsored Web sites and newsgroups. And Connaissance may benefit by affixing student names to tickets, requiring PennCards for concert entry or even instituting a basketball-style "Line" to help guarantee that only the most interested students have the opportunity to see such a musical legend perform at such a bargain price.
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