Bluetones For Gradball
The Bluetones, Vengaboys and the Scassa Monakee Synth Quartet have been lined up for Grad Ball 2003 as tickets went on sale yesterday.
The annual Ball, the University’s prestige social event of the year, has in the past attracted high profile acts such as Ash and Right Said Fred.
However, in an attempt to prevent the £20,000 loss that resulted from staging last year’s event, Services Officer James Byron has increased the price of tickets from £65 to £70, whilst reducing expenditure on acts by £7,000.
In a frank admission Byron confessed that whilst he is "no better than any of his recent predecessors" he is confident that the event will break even. Furthermore, whilst acknowledging that cutbacks had been made, he maintained there is still "shit loads of enjoyable entertainment".
Many Students have expressed anger at the cutbacks. An Alcuin student complained "A ball should be classy, the acts announced are not classy, therefore calling it a ‘ball’ is misleading". Lucy Freedman a Third Year from Vanbrugh College expressed her disgust at the lack of better known acts. "How is it that other universities get good stuff but we get crap?" However, Raphael Castro conceded that whilst the asking price of £70 seemed steep the line-up seemed better than last year’s which was dominated by Christine Hamilton.
Gradball has been shrouded in controversy since Elvington Airfield refused to host this year’s event after the site’s owners and the Student Union fell out. Byron eventually secured a deal at Askham Bryan College, at a far greater cost than last year’s venue.
This has left even less money available for entertainment as the Union have set out to try and ensure that the event actually break even. "Either its going to lose the University a ludicrous amount of money, or its going to be a complete flop or both" said David Phillips. No further acts are to be announced.
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