Spotlight presents singer Justin Moore

Stephanie Allen

Tickets are now on sale at the 20/20 Information Desk in the Kirkhof Center on Grand Valley State University’s Allendale Campus for this year’s spring concert, featuring up-and-coming country artist Justin Moore with local guests The Kari Lynch Band on April 12 to the Fieldhouse Arena.

Tickets are $10 for GVSU students; $15 for faculty, staff and alumni and $20 for general admission. There are 4,000 tickets are available for the show, brought to GVSU by the student-run programming board Spotlight Productions, and about 500 have already been sold.

Moore is known for several No. 1 hits, including “Small Town USA” and “If Heaven Wasn’t So Far Away,” as well as the top 10 song “Backwoods.”

Claire Fellin, vice president of marketing with Spotlight Productions, said they saw a lot of interest from students in country artists and GVSU hasn’t had a country performer since Josh Gracin came in 2007.

“We knew we wanted to do a different genre and Justin Moore is an up-and-coming country star,” said Natalie Wozniak, Spotlight Productions music committee chair.

The Grand Rapids-native Kari Lynch Band broke into the country scene about three years ago and has since gained a distinct fan base, which should provide a larger turnout on April 12, Wozniak said. She said they have been working together to help spread Lynch’s name and the GVSU performance.

“With the opening act, Kari Lynch, we thought having a guy and girl to complement each other and their styles are kind of similar, so it was good to have a national act and then a local flair to it too,” Fellin said. “It was a good match.”

Last year’s spring concert, a comedy performance by YouTube star Bo Burnham, sold out with 4,000 attendants, and Fellin said they’re hoping to do it again this year with Moore.

“We had a really good initial feedback when we first announced it on Facebook and ever since then we got pretty much completely positive feedback, on Facebook at least,” Fellin said. “I know the country fans for sure are really pumped and they’re a really good kind of crowd to come out. People are really excited, and I am too.”

Spotlight Productions recommends students take advantage of the cheap price and get tickets early because they are marketing to local high schools and country bars. Because Spotlight Productions has teamed up with country radio station B-93, the concert will be widely known throughout the Grand Rapids area.

Doors open at 8 p.m. For more information, check out Justin Moore’s website at bigmachinemusic.com/artist/justin_moore and search Kari Lynch on Facebook.

Spotlight Productions is offering concert information on their Facebook page. Contact [email protected] for more information.

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