In the 1960s and early 1970s, UNC’s Jubilee in the spring was a mini music festival in itself. In 1971, the Jubilee was a multi-venue affair featuring prominent performers of the time like The Allman Brothers Band, Muddy Waters and Chuck Berry.
On Sept. 4, the Carolina Union Activities Board announced they would not be putting on a Homecoming concert this fall, saying they would instead reallocate their resources toward an expanded spring Jubilee.
Unless CUAB can revive the Jubilee extravaganzas on the scale of years past, discontinuing the Homecoming concert is a shame, and CUAB should do everything in its power to make sure there is a proper Homecoming show next year.
A Homecoming concert is a fantastic community event that takes an essential role in building a festival atmosphere around the football game. It is particularly disappointing that there won’t be a hype-building concert when UNC’s Homecoming opponent is Duke.
Last year’s spring Jubilee was indeed a success, but CUAB shouldn’t focus on one big concert in the spring unless it revives the spirit of the multi-venue mini festivals of the past.
Judging by the size of CUAB’s past budgets and the range of contract amounts of available artists, it seems possible for CUAB to put on more than one successful concert per year.
UNC itself has had plenty of success in planning Homecoming concerts, even those in recent years, like the J. Cole concert of 2012. It would be a shame if the tradition was discontinued altogether.
Failing to procure a Homecoming concert at UNC is a major disappointment. CUAB shouldn’t repeat the mistake.
