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Indie rock fans rejoice – Death Cab For Cutie are coming to Dalhousie.
The acclaimed rock group, whose most recent album Narrow Stairs debuted at number one on the Billboard charts, will be playing a private concert at the McInnis Room on April 3. Dalhousie was awarded the concert for winning the Campus Battle '09 contest presented by Rogers in partnership with Live Nation, which pitted universities from across Canada against one another to see which could earn the most support on Facebook relative to their size. Voters totaling over 15 per cent of the university student population supported Dal; that’s almost double the closest competitor.
Kris Osmond, DSU VP Student Life, explains that the DSU put a lot of effort into getting the vote out, from postering around campus to promotion on Facebook itself. Ultimately, though, they credit school spirit with Dalhousie’s overwhelming success.
“Death Cab are a band that we’d love to have on campus, but we could never have afforded to bring here on our own,” he explains, noting that this is the second such contest that Dal won this year. The university also prevailed in Telus’ “Secret Show” event that gave the campus a free Joel Plaskett Emergency show. “Competitions like these show a different side of our school spirit here at Dal: we love our music, and we’re willing to pull together to bring great music to campus.”
Shane Simms, a third-year management student who works at the SUB info desk, is about as big a Death Cab fan as it gets. He even has the cover art from the band’s Transatlanticism album on his forearm. He spent the past few weeks cajoling his friends to all sign up for the contest so that Dalhousie would win the concert.
“They have such great pop songs, and their old stuff isn’t lame like most mainstream pop,” he says. “They’re pretty great.”
While Rogers did not disclose how many people voted in total across Canada, they offered praise for Dalhousie’s efforts. “Campus Battle is one more example of our commitment to music and the community,” said Daniel Ewing, manager, music partnership with Rogers Wireless. “Rogers Wireless congratulates Dalhousie on their win.”
Rogers will be prizing tickets via a random draw to people who voted for Dalhousie in the Campus Battle contest. If you don’t win tickets, or if you didn’t vote in the contest, you’re not out of luck yet: local radio station Z103 will be awarding a number of tickets to listeners during the weeks of March 16 and 23.