When it comes to the rivalry between Auburn and Alabama students, fierce competition is a given.
Whether comparing the national ranking of our respective business schools, or arguing over who will win this year's Iron Bowl, it has long been a constant battle to get ahead, and stay ahead, of the other school.
One phase of the battle that our cross-state foe is definitely winning, at least in recent memory, is the ability to attract and host big name, superstar bands and performers to play concerts and shows.
The Tuscaloosa Amphitheater hosted the Avett Brothers and Band of Horses for its inaugural gig in April 2011, and since then the Auburn music scene has been struggling to keep up.
Performers like John Mayer, Neil Young, Alan Jackson, B.B. King and Widespread Panic have all graced the stage of the Tuscaloosa Amphitheater, while in Auburn, UPC has put on shows with headliners such as Train, The Goo Goo Dolls and Akon.
That isn't to say that Train and The Goo Goo Dolls aren't highly talented, well-respected bands; they just don't possess the star power that is required to draw a huge crowd and engage the interest of the majority of the student body.
Michael Pace, junior in software engineering and a local musician, echoed those sentiments.
"I'm not sure if people were too ecstatic to see Train," Pace said.
It hasn't always been this way. The Rolling Stones played in the coliseum in 1969. Chicago, Three Dog Night, Elton John and Elvis, among others, played at Auburn during the 1970s. What's changed?
"The easy answer would be to blame the people in charge," Pace said, "but I'm not really sure. I complain to my friends and they say, 'So why don't you get involved?' So, maybe it's lack of (student) involvement."
UPC Adviser Mike Rapay said that Auburn simply doesn't have a venue that can accommodate the needs of such a large audience.
"The availability of a venue plays a lot into it," Rapay said. "When you're looking at a mega star like Blake Shelton, or the Black Eyed Peas, you're going to need a venue that will hold close to 10,000 people."
Rapay said that the root of the problem is much more complex than the simple lack of a suitable location.
"In Atlanta (and Birmingham), they have the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater," Rapay said. "It's their job to bring in these major artists, and a lot of times the major artists would rather take a chance on a big city rather than a small college town. A lot of artists simply refuse to play at colleges. Also, many artists only plan summer tours and Auburn is practically a ghost town during the summer."
Another issue Auburn faces when attempting to reel in big time performers is lack of funding.
"We don't have the funding to bring in more than two concerts a year at a high level, like we would like to," Rapay said. "We just don't have that kind of money. We've talked about charging more for all students in order to raise that money, but whether or not that's a direction we're going to go in is still up in the air."
Another idea UPC has been talking about in order to make hosting these "mega shows" more feasible is opening up admission to some events to the general public, not just the students.
"While we do have a large student body, when you're trying to fill up a 5,000 seat arena, or a field that can hold 10,000 people, that can be hard to do," Rapay said. "So opening it up to the public could help us generate those kinds of numbers."
While the corporate sponsors who support the Tuscaloosa Amphitheater have no official affiliation with the University of Alabama, Alabama students still reap the benefits. They have a top-notch venue to go see their favorite bands play on a fairly regular basis.
The UPC is doing all they can to provide comparable entertainment options for Auburn students, but until sufficient effort is taken to attract marquee entertainers, students will have to continue to travel to Birmingham, Atlanta and regrettably, Tuscaloosa to get their musical fix.
Meanwhile, Auburn will continue to fall further behind in its "battle of the bands" with Alabama.
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