The Bryce Jordan Center will be bringing hard rock outfits Shinedown, Puddle of Mudd and Skillet to State College on Feb. 3
All three bands have become staples of modern rock radio, with Shinedown authoring hits like "45" and "Save Me," Puddle of Mudd with "She Hates Me" and "Blurry," and the twice-Grammy-nominated Christian rock band Skillet with its new hit "Monster."
Bernie Punt, director of sales and marketing for the BJC, said the venue wanted to bring an act that fit into a genre that hasn't visited in a while.
"We've had hip-hop, we had country. We've had a lot of pop, which does really well, but we know we need to bring some rock into Central Pa.," Punt said. "When this opportunity comes up, we definitely want to jump on it.
We know there's rock fans out there that definitely don't want to see Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift."
Carol Sosnowski, a State College resident and mother of a Penn State student, is one of those people.
"I could have thrown up," Sosnowski said, recalling when she heard Miley Cyrus was coming to the BJC. "Oh, whoop-de-do-da."
A registered member of Shinedown's fan club, Sosnowski believes that the band's music is genuine.
"They bring the message home, and you can relate to it," Sosnowski said. "They aren't phony."
Michael Henry (freshman-chemical engineering), like Sosnowski, is also excited to see some hard rock come to Penn State.
"One of the biggest things for me going up to college was that I could go to concerts all the time now -- I don't have to drag my parents everywhere," Henry said.
But he's been disappointed so far because most of the shows have
centered on pop and not rock.
Ticket prices have been significantly lowered with assistance from the University Park Allocation Committee (UPAC), which lowered the ticket price to only $10 for students.
"For $10, it's not like we're making college students go bankrupt." Punt said. He believes they wouldn't have booked the show if they hadn't secured UPAC's assistance.
Henry agreed and said the discount price factored into his decision to go to the concert.
"Since I haven't really listened to any of the bands before, if it was $32 like before, I wouldn't be so excited to check them out," Henry said.
But for some, even the drop in price won't encourage them to see the show. Will Baer (junior-computer science), an avid rock fan, will not be attending the show.
"I just don't like them. They're really generic, mainstream genre," Baer said. "There's a million other bands that sound exactly like them. The money is not an issue."
With a capacity of 15,261, the venue will also be taking a different approach to its setup, clearing itself of chairs to allow only standing room on the floor for the show.
"We're setting it up for a small house," Punt said. "We don't want anyone to hurt themselves, but we definitely want them to get into the music. It's going to be a win-win -- it will be great for the bands and it will be great for the fans."
