Having a ticket to Wednesday’s Balch Fieldhouse concert is only the first step to experiencing all that Verge Campus and their bi-annual campus tours are offering CU-Boulder.
Tonight’s headliner is Chance the Rapper, an independent, self-promoted rapper from Chicago. Norwegian DJ Kygo will make an exclusive appearance as well, said Daniel Poulin, the Verge Campus marketing director. Sweater Beats, an R&B DJ, and Young & Sick are the opening acts who are travelling with Chance throughout his Fall Campus Tour.
Verge representatives are outside the University Memorial Center until 3 p.m. but will move their booths to the ‘Buffalo Plaza’ outside the Balch Fieldhouse entrance later this evening. Activities include T-shirt giveaways, a raffle to travel to Greece, carnival-like games and a “best bucket-list item” entry contest.
Poulin also alluded to a potential meet-and-greet with Chance the Rapper for anyone who downloads, ScoopR, a brand growth app, to interact with Verge Campus today.
“It’s an assignment-based app where you can sign up, take a photo and complete all the different assignments detailed in the the day-to-day description,” he said. “If you complete all the tasks for today, then you win a t-shirt or sunglasses. Three of the winners who enter will then be picked to have a meet-and-greet with Chance.”
Being an entrepreneurial venture, Verge Campus relies on featuring trendy, up-and-coming artists and brands to truly reach its target audience: the college student. For example, Verge booked Kendrick Lamar and Steve Aoki for their first Spring Campus Tour. 2013 and 2014 successes produced eight Grammy nominations between the two artists. Logic and Krewella, who headlined CU Boulder’s 2013 Welcomefest concert, have also participated in Verge tours.
“We’re all about finding what we believe to be the next big act,” Poulin said. “We take pride in picking that line-up…[these artists] really speak to the demographic”
University contacts and campus presence are the final pieces to Verge’s puzzle, which is where the University of Colorado’s Program Council comes in.
“We can present our (tour) packages to schools … but it’s all up to the colleges to bring us in” Poulin said. “We like to think we offer something a little bit different and unique.”
Program Council said $30 student tickets have been sold out for weeks. If you’re still vying to get in the door, your best bet might just be contacting ticket holders through social media, as sites such as StubHub.com and Eventbrite are selling single tickets for over $100 at this point.
Doors open at 7 p.m., and openers will take the stage at 8.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Jordyn Siemens at jordyn.siemens@colorado.edu.
