The University of Manitoba Student Union’s second annual Frosh Music Festival will take place this Sunday, Sept. 14. The festival has drawn attention within the city for booking internationally renowned electronic dance music DJ Tiesto as its headliner.
The concert will take place at Bison Stadium and will run from 3:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. with an after party taking place at Area Nightclub after the concert.
Canadian DJ duo Dzeko and Torres have also been announced as part of the lineup according to Frosh Fest’s official website.
A Facebook post from Sunday by University 1 Student Council lists Lambo, Kaveman, Pypes and Doves, and Hollywood Hype among the other performers who will be taking the stage, but none of these have been confirmed on the Frosh Fest website as of publication.
The University of Manitoba Student’s Union contracted local business Prairie Promotions to find and recruit performers for Frosh.
Jeremiah Kopp, UMSU vice-president internal, said the executive was happy with the work Prairie Promotions had done in finding a headliner.
“They had expressed interest last year. Of course, that was already given to a different entertainment company, but this year we really felt that they had the experience and the enthusiasm required to pull off a show like this.
“They were working hard all summer on sending out offers to different artists, and everybody was pleasantly surprised that an artist of the size and magnitude of Tiesto is coming to Winnipeg,” said Kopp.
This is the second year for the UMSU-run Frosh Music Festival. Last year’s executive renamed the campus’ orientation week “Frosh Week” and instituted the Frosh Music Festival, which featured Childish Gambino as a headliner.
A scheduling conflict came up for the Friday concert and Childish Gambino gave UMSU an ultimatum: either he performed Saturday or not at all. The student union responded by extending the festival to a two-day event.
As a result of the expanded costs associated with extending the concert to include a second day and lower than projected ticket sales, the Frosh Fest went almost $150,000 over budget.
Kopp explained that UMSU would save money this year because Frosh will not have to be extended over two days, but added that there would be other additional costs this year – specifically, the costs of added security.
“This year as a one-day show it’ll be far less expensive in terms of [ . . . ] rentals for different equipment, port-a-potties. Stuff like that obviously goes down when it’s one day.
“On the other hand, some costs are going to be way higher. We’re really investing in security this year. The last thing we want to see is anybody’s safety be jeopardized, and we’re working closely with the city and the university on that front where, I believe, we’re going to have 23 Winnipeg police officer staff members on site, which is a significant police presence, to guarantee the safety of the event, as well as expanded role for hired security services,” said Kopp.
“So even though the overall budget will be less because it’s a two-day event, per-capita, the ratio was larger just because how many people we’re expecting.”
Kopp told the Manitoban that the permit obtained for the festival allows for 7,000 people to attend.
The Frosh Fest website says that tickets can be purchased directly from diyobo.com.
Tickets are $45 for University of Manitoba students and $65 for non-students. VIP tickets are also available for $95. The diyobo website charges an additional $7.50 service fee for each ticket.
All tickets purchased at a student rate will be printed with the students’ name on them and require student ID to get in.
As of Sunday, the Frosh Music Festival Facebook page said that 90 per cent of their tickets are sold.
