By: Brandon Gillet
We’ve rocked to Mac Miller. Laughed to George Stroumboulopolous. Now on Feb. 28, the stage will be set for Randy Bachman.
Bachman is the veteran guitarist of the Guess Who and Bachman Turner Overdrive. Commonly referred to as “the architect of Canadian rock and roll,” Bachman has won countless awards and sold millions of records spanning over a 40 year career.
Bachman is coming to Algonquin for his Vinyl Tap tour, born from the CBC radio show of the same name. The veteran of the Guess Who will take the audience through his rock career while meshing his music into the story.
How does Algonquin get artists like Bachman? What does the college and the SA have in store for students?
SA Events Programmer Bill Kitchen and others continue working hard to stay in contact with major agents and other colleges to determine what students want to see. From comedians to influential speakers and musicians, shows are organized on a needs and availability basis.
Kitchen and the SA use many methods to attract artists. These include booking within routed tours to make the trip to Algonquin more appealing to performers, speaking with other schools to monitor trends in the college demographic, and engaging with students through social media.
The best part of all is that the SA most often present the acts free to students.
The new Student Commons theater was designed with the future of Algonquin events in mind. The SA and entertainment agencies like Live Nation worked together during the design of the commons theater in order to accommodate bigger acts in the future, according to Ken MacLeod, manager of theater operations.
“We’re working all the time to bring in mixed varieties of comedians, speakers, and music,” said MacLeod.
Through the program run by the SA, renting out to external promoters and partnerships with artist tours, acts are booked to better the Algonquin experience while generating revenue for student programs.
Unlike the Observatory, the theater caters to a mixed demographic by hosting a wider variety of talents. The idea is to bring in audiences of all types but also to give students in related programs opportunities to excel in the industry through special theater projects.