Ludacris, Black Violin and DJ Eric Deluxe are coming to CSUN to perform at the Big Show 8 on Saturday Oct. 11. A.S. Student Production And Campus Entertainment is planning the show and has been working since January to bring everything together for CSUN students and anyone else who buys a ticket.

‘It feels like Christmas. I am so excited for the show,’ said Audrey Younna, A.S. SPACE executive director. ‘We’ve been working on it since January so it’s that peak time that it’s almost here’hellip; I think the show is a little bigger than what we’ve done before, especially artist wise.’

In addition to the musical guests, the Big Show is having many additional attractions. There will be vendors at the show, selling everything from food to clothing. The reasoning behind this, Younna said, is to create a fun atmosphere for the people attending that is not just centered on the music but the whole experience.

‘We’re having five to 10 food vendors and we’re also having merchandise vendors so you can shop before the show. We wanted to have a festival show. You can come early, eat, shop, look around and then get ready to go to the show. It’s not just being here for the concert, you can go to socialize,’ she said.

The process of planning the Big Show begins in January with a survey that is passed out by A.S. at various events around campus. The survey asks questions about what type of artist students would like to see at the concert and what other attractions and food they would want to have. Gathering the information is the first phase of planning the show. The second phase begins with finding artists.

‘We went to the National Association for Campus Activities,’ Younna said. ‘All the programming boards for all the universities all over the nation go. We get to pick upcoming artists and that’s how we picked Black Violin.’

Concerts Director, Ali Garcia, works on recruiting different artists to be a part of these shows at CSUN. A lot of thought goes into this and Garcia said sometimes it is not an easy process.

‘Beforehand, we have a list of people we want to see on campus, it’s basically a list of who students want to hear,’ she said. ‘We have ideas and we tell [the agents] what we want. Sometimes it can be frustrating because our budget sometimes doesn’t fit what we want and it’s frustrating because when we put an offer and they’ll have plans that weekend or they won’t even be in the U.S. You can’t get your hopes up because you never know who is going to bite.’

Garcia said she is also looking forward to the show.

‘It’s my favorite time of year,’ she said. ‘I find it thrilling to direct concerts in general. Ludacris is probably up there, so I’m excited. I love seeing the student’s faces light up when they find out Ludacris is coming, that’s a treat in itself.’

Director of Homecoming and Spirit, Melissa Romero, is working on her first Big Show. After seeing Ne-Yo at last year’s concert, Romero said she knew she wanted to get involved. She is in charge of hospitality and food.

‘I have to make sure that I get all the food for the artists and volunteers,’ Romero said. ‘We all help out with any aspects that need to be completed. That includes marketing and getting the vendors out there. We’ve been here all summer trying to determine what our artist is going to be.’

Romero said that the show gets bigger every year with more concertgoers and artists.

‘This year our whole goal has been getting it bigger and getting it out there,’ she said. ‘So we wanted to expand the amount of people who can come in and also bring out a bigger artist as well so people can be more proud of coming to CSUN. People think that Ludacris is too big for CSUN but he’s not.’

Tickets will be available to non-CSUN students at the Ticket Office for $25 or at Ticketmaster for $30.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT BIG SHOW 8

Where
? Saturday, Oct. 11
from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Sierra Quad

Tickets
? Free tickets for CSUN students at Ticket Office
? CSUN ID must be shown with ticket at door
? $25 for Non-CSUN Students through Ticket Office
? $30 for Non-CSUN Students through Ticketmaster

Parking
? $5. Park in lots B1, B2, B3, B5