Big-ticket co-headlining rappers Ludacris and Rick Ross basked in the spotlight at last year’s Rock the Dome concert, but it was University Union that might have stolen the show.

UU members hoped the concert, which was brand new in 2012, would become a staple in the rotation of programming, as long as the show could avoid tangling schedules with other events.

Jump ahead to 2013 and Rock the Dome’s status is stuck in limbo as a one-year-wonder. The same problems UU tried to sidestep — conflicts with other events and artists and Carrier Dome availability — kept the concert from bouncing back its sophomore year.

“It’s something we really looked into having, and we looked at dates in November or January or February,” said UU President Lindsey Colegrove. “But when it came down to artist and Dome availability, the dates just didn’t add up.”

Colegrove doesn’t want Rock the Dome to fall by the wayside. She said UU’s concert board talked about several different lineups it wanted to go after, and even reached a decision a few times. But scheduling a concert during a hectic season for the Dome just didn’t play out the way she hoped.

“There’s different sports and holidays and events going on, and it makes it hard to book a concert around,” she said. “We don’t want to conflict with other events around campus.”

Rock the Dome’s debut concert was funded by a Student Association allocation separate from the spring 2012 programming budget. The SA grant designated the extra money to be spent on large-scale programming, which opened the door for Rock the Dome.

As a registered student organization, UU does not focus on making a profit. As the official programming board, it is given its budget on a yearly basis, and books the whole year based on artist availability, said Kelly Benini, concert director for UU.

But in an April 5 article published by The Daily Orange, then-UU President Rob Dekker expressed that some brought up concerns Rock the Dome didn’t turn a profit.

SA Comptroller Stephen DeSalvo stated in an April 9 article in The Daily Orangethat members of the Finance Board hoped to see UU use some of the revenue generated from Juice Jam, Block Party and Rock the Dome to be more self-sustaining when booking large-scale concerts.

In April, the SA Finance Board denied all funding for UU’s request for $285,219.47 for a second Rock the Dome concert. But Colegrove said money wasn’t the reason for Rock the Dome’s failed follow-up.

“It wasn’t the finances,” she said. “The funding had nothing to do with it.”

Benini said the lack of SA funding for Rock the Dome wouldn’t have any lingering effects on other UU programming.

“Rock the Dome was not funded this year through SA,” she said. “Therefore, it does not affect the caliber of our other shows.”

But the initial SA grant, along with UU becoming Syracuse University’s official programming board last year, breathed life into the plans for Rock the Dome that had been in the works, even before the talent was booked.

Rock the Dome’s debut headliners — Rick Ross and Ludacris — performed well on UU’s student survey, and Colegrove, UU president, said looking at the survey remains a priority for selecting acts.

The first Rock the Dome sold about 7,000 tickets. That stacks up against some 8,500 sold for this year’s Juice Jam, featuring electronic dance music DJ Calvin Harris and hip-hop phenomenon Childish Gambino, and 2012’s Block Party featuring Kid Cudi, which sold 12,000 tickets. The Juice Jam concert preceding Rock the Dome, with Swedish DJ Avicii and rapper B.O.B. as headliners, sold 7,000 tickets.

With Rock the Dome off the books for 2013, UU is pushing forward with the rest of its concerts slated for the spring.

“The advantage of us not doing Rock the Dome this year is that it gives my team more time to focus on the rest of this semester,” Benini said. “We’re very excited to book and execute each and every show. We can only hope students are as enthusiastic as we are.”

Colegrove said without Rock the Dome, UU still wanted to reach a different audience by teaming up with the Traditions Commission for Winter Carnival 2013 and booking DJ Pauly D of “Jersey Shore” for a show in Goldstein Auditorium.

“Since we had nothing lined up, we still wanted to bring a show, so that’s kind of how the collaboration happened,” Colegrove said. “We wanted Rock the Dome to bring a different audience than Block Party might, so the Goldstein show will reach that.”

Benini said even without Rock the Dome, UU puts a conscious effort into bringing a variety of genres with each of the eight shows the organization puts on.

The question of whether Rock the Dome will come back still stands. Colegrove hopes, and thinks, it will make a return to the Loud House.

Said Colegrove: “We really want it to happen, and this year it just didn’t work out. It adds a lot to our programming.”

Published on February 13, 2013 at 10:15 pm

Contact Erik: ervanrhe@syr.edu | @therealvandyman