10 years of Little 5 entertainment

When it comes time to find a Little 5 artist, the Union Board knows it’s in for a bit of a tough ride.

“The search is a little nerve-wracking,” said junior James Still, the Union Board director for concerts.

Every year, the board works to bring musicians for multiple concerts — the two biggest being the Welcome Week and the Little 500 shows. To do so, the board relies on a booking sub-committee and its boss, Still.

“We all throw around different names months before the concert so we can announce well in advance,” he said.

The first step Stills takes to picking an artist or band? Getting a feel for what students desire.

“It’s tough to know what students want to hear,” Still said. “We’ve started doing small-market research to find out.”

The keys to a good pick, Still said, are knowing how well-received the band or artist was when it performed at other universities, if the band has recently released an album and when they will perform during the school year.

Still said the Union Board tries to get a rock performer for the spring and hip-hop for the fall, knowing the competition to sell tickets is greater during Little 500, when fraternities bring big-name rappers to campus.

Since 1960, the Union Board has almost always been able to bring a musical act to headline Little 500, but the fraternities also play a major role in the entertainment for the week. In 2009, Ludacris performed in the Alpha Tau Omega and Acacia parking lot, while rapper Young Jeezy performed behind Zeta Beta Tau and Sigma Alpha Mu.

Although Still can not describe how it difficult it is for the fraternities to book entertainers, he can for the Union Board. Actually booking the artist is the biggest step for the board — and the hardest. In the past, including in 2004 and 2003, the board was unable to make a deal and scrapped the Little 500 concert all together.

“I give myself a deadline,” Still said of this year’s concert. “If we didn’t get an artist booked by the second week of March, we were going to scrap the concert. We got The Flaming Lips the last week of February.”

Tickets are still available for this year’s concert, which happens on 8 p.m. Thursday at the IU Auditorium. Visit www.iuauditorium.com/site/index.html

2000
The Union Board had its Little 500 concert in Assembly Hall, rather then the auditorium, in 2000.
The concert featured both the Red Hot Chili Peppers and the Foo Fighters. The Peppers, formed in 1983, released “Californication” in 1999.
The Foo Fighters also released an album in 1999, “There Is Nothing Left to Lose.”

2001
A year into the new millennium brought rapper Nelly to the auditorium stage.
Nelly, who was born Cornell Haynes Jr., signed to Universal Records in 1999 and released his first solo album in 2000 titled “Country Grammar.”
The title song off the record peaked at seventh on the lists of top 100 hits in both the U.S. and UK.

2002
Guster performed at the auditorium on April 16 for Little 500. The band was formed in 1991 on the Tufts University campus in Massachusettes.
Kappa Sigma fraternity was again able to book Of a Revolution (O.A.R).
Both concerts, coincidentally, were scheduled for the same night. Local band Three Minute Mile opened for O.A.R.

2003
The Union Board could not provide entertainment in 2003. The policy of the board is to stop looking for a performer after a certain point. However, Kappa Sigma was able to book the band Rusted Root, who performed April 22.
Rusted Root formed in Pittsburgh, Pa., in 1988 and have released eight albums.
Rusted Root’s “Send Me On My Way,” is its most commercially popular song to date.

2004
As in 2003, the Union Board could not provide entertainment.
The usual policy of the board is to stop looking for a performer after a certain point in the year.
Three fraternities, however, teamed up to bring the band Guster — who performed for the Union Board in 2002 — on April 23. Phi Delta, Phi Kappa Sigma and Kappa Sigma all sponsored the event.

2005
2005 marked the first Union Board concert since 2002 — but it was not one of the most popular concerts.
Grammy Award winning band The Roots was chosen for the Little 500 concert, but it was not as financially successful as some of the other concerts the board sponsored. Turnout was also less than expected.
The Roots hail from Philadelphia, Pa.

2006
Unusually, the Union Board concert for the 2006 Little 500 was scheduled for a Monday. The rock band Wilco took the stage April 17.
The set started with the band’s song “Airline to Heaven,” and followed with the song “Kingpin.”
During the performance, lead singer Jeff Tweedy said he was told to prepare for drunk, rowdy students — even on a Monday.

2007
Indie rockers Of a Revolution (O.A.R) took the auditorium stage in 2007.
Along with O.A.R., Yellowcard performed, and Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity was able to book Three 6 Mafia. The popular rap group performed on April 19.
O.A.R. performed at Kappa Sigma fraternity in 2002 when the Union Board could not secure an artist.

2008
Little 500 kicked off in 2008 with indie rocker Leslie Feist.
The show took place April 11 and opened with Canadian indie folk singer Hayden, who played the piano, harmonica and guitar.
Fiest opened and ended her set behind a transparent, white screen, revealing only her silhouette.
Feist, also a Canadian folk singer, might be best known for her song “1234” featured in an iPod Nano commercial in 2007.
Feist won five 2008 Juno Awards in Calgary, Canada, including New Songwriter of the Year and Artist of the Year.

2009
Last year, the Flight of the Conchords concert was a major hit — it sold out. The band, consisting of Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzi, hails from New Zealand. Their HBO show “Flight of the Conchords” ran until 2009, when the duo announced they would not return for a third season. Clement and McKenzi fuse music — guitars, bongos and more — and comedy for their performances.