The organizers of this year's Sprign Fling are getting closer to securing musical acts for the April festival.
Social Planning and Events Committee Concerts co-Director and Wharton and Engineering senior Matthew Mizrahi said that the group is presently in bidding talks with a short list of bands and hopes to announce this year's acts sometime in early March.
"We are putting in bids and waiting for [groups] to respond," Mizrahi said.
Mizrahi added that the announcement for this year's groups should come substantially earlier than in years past due to the earlier Fling date --April 7.
However, SPEC has not yet decided where the concert will be held.
According to SPEC Concerts co-director and College senior Sam Huntington, no venue has been ruled out yet. Last year's concert in Wynn Commons followed years of shows held at Franklin Field.
The initial list of 10 to 15 potential bands was compiled from a student survey conducted online in mid-November.
Five hundred twenty one students filled out the survey, indicating what musical genres they would like to hear and suggesting specific bands.
According to the survey, some of the more popular student choices were Ben Folds, Guster, the Roots, Death Cab for Cutie, OAR, Weezer, Missy Elliot and Ciara.
Last year the group announced that Sonic Youth would be headlining the festival, with support from openers Citizen Cope and Cat Power, on March 16.
"Obviously there were names like the Beatles, Nirvana and Sublime on the list, but for the most part the suggestions were pretty reasonable," Mizrahi said of the survey results.
Pop, classic rock, alternative and hip-hop were the top genres selected by students who took surveys.
After compiling a list of the top groups, SPEC took the names of several groups to University administrators for approval.
"This year we definitely took into consideration student interests and we are trying our best to meet those," Mizrahi added.
While last year's Spring Fling bands drew a meager crowd compared to those of years past, SPEC brought Howie Day to Irvine Auditorium this past fall, a show which received better reviews.
"We're just trying to work from the positive energy that we received from that show," Huntington said.
Fling concerts in the past five years have featured Wyclef Jean, Reel Big Fish, Busta Rhymes, George Clinton and the P-Funk All Stars and Ben Harper.
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