With a little over a week left until the Homecoming Concert, Student Activities Board has booked the rock group Tonic.

This announcement comes after a challenging process and weeks of uncertainty.

“With our initial artist backing out this summer, we were especially challenged finding available artists,” SAB Coordinator Janelle Densberger said.

They had originally hoped to book rap artist B.o.B. However, he backed out of their contract in late July.

The group usually creates a list of artists they want to book and go from there. This year, they went through this list with no luck. It was at this point that they consulted the surveys they collected from the general student population, as well as the suggestions of SAB members.

“After compiling a new list, we again had to check several of them off. However, Tonic was the next on our list and, luckily, [they] confirmed,” SAB President Stephanie Hart said.
According to Densberger, SAB tries to get a sense of what type of music the student body is looking for. They do this in several ways, one of which is the survey.

“Rock is typically the number one choice, and Tonic fits nicely into this category. The group has some good classic songs that fit the values of Homecoming well, and their type of music fits the bill for what many SLU students ask for when polled about the concert,” Densberger said.

Tonic is a rock band that was formed in the ‘90s and released its first album, Lemon Parade, in 1996.

The album later gained platinum status. The group is perhaps best known for the hit single “If You Could Only See,” which reached number 11 on the Billboard Airplay Hot 100 chart.

Since its formation, the band has sold over four million records, has had six top-ten singles and has obtained several Grammy nominations.

“We are glad to have them,” Hart said.

Javier Mendoza will be the opening act for Tonic. This pop/rock artist, who currently lives in St. Louis, was voted “Best Male Vocalist” by The Riverfront Times’ Reader’s Poll.  His most recent albums, “You” and “Tu” takes listeners back to his Spanish roots.

The songs were first written in English and later translated into Spanish.

In addition to these two artists, SAB is also looking for a band from Saint Louis University to play before Mendoza.

“You never know what challenges might arise when booking concert artists, but I do truly commend all of SAB, especially the Executive Board and the Homecoming Chairs for the their dedication, commitment and enthusiasm throughout this entire process. It will be a great Homecoming Week,” Densberger said.

General admission for the concert will start at 7 p.m. The SLU band will open at 7:30.

Mendoza will follow at 8:15 and Tonic will perform last, beginning at 9:30.

SAB has also organized several other Homecoming events for this year.

The events for this month include the Billiken Music Festival on Sept. 18, a Luau at SLUruba on Sept. 19, a blood drive in the Busch Student Center on Sept. 20, Capture the Flag in the Quad on Sept. 21, Quad Day and an outdoor movie viewing on Sept. 22 and SLU Night at the Fox on Sept. 23.

Finally, this year’s Homecoming Concert, located in the parking lot behind Greisedick Hall, will take place on Sept. 24.