Students said they are disappointed with the price and low number of GW tickets for the April 26 No Doubt concert at the Smith Center.

The Program Board brought the act to campus in coordination with local promoter IMP, owner of the 9:30 Club. The concert is part of a national tour by No Doubt and is open to the public. PB reserved 500 tickets for GW students. Tickets sold out last week within five days.

Tickets were available at the Marvin Center Ticketmaster office for $30, with a two-ticket limitation per person. Tickets purchased after Feb. 22 are $35.50 because of an additional service charge fee.

Looking for a venue larger than the 9:30 Club, IMP worked with PB to choose the Smith Center, said Joshua Bhatti, program board concerts chair.

IMP will pay for the Smith Center, No Doubt and the band’s hotel and transportation costs. In exchange, PB will produce the concert, providing catering and man power and probably spending about “a couple thousand” on the event, PB Executive Chair Alicia O’Neil said.

“I worked hard with IMP to get the 500 student tickets; however, they were a little higher in price than I would have liked,” Bhatti said. “However, the student tickets save you about $10 in the long run, because there is no service charge for them.”

O’Neil said the PB had been looking for a big act with little financial risk and this was a “great opportunity.”

“Our only expense is to provide catering, set up and man power,” O’Neil said. “We like to do these shows because we don’t have any financial risk. In my experience, students generally become concerned when the Program Board pays large amounts of money for shows which could affect the budget for events in the future.”

The last time the PB had a similar arrangement was two years ago with a Live performance.

Booking large name acts for anything less than $30,000 is difficult Bhatti said.

Student reaction to the concert is mixed.

“I don’t really listen to No Doubt,” sophomore Ven Mothkur said. “I also don’t think that I would throw away $30 for a ticket to a college concert. I really am disappointed with the price of the tickets.”

Other students said they are glad to see a large name act come to campus.

“It’s good to hear that a popular band like No Doubt will be coming to GW,” freshman Nick Johnson said. “They have really struggled to maintain their popularity, but they still are a band that I think a good amount of GW students will be interested in hearing.”

Acts such as Tenacious D and Bush were pursued for the fall concert date, but fell through because of schedule conflicts, Bhatti said.

O’Neil said the PB is looking into acts such as Alien Ant Farm and John Mayer for the Spring Fling, scheduled for the same weekend.

She said they have yet to confirm an act.

“I would expect us to have artists comparable to those we have had in the past,” O’Neil said. Last year The Roots performed at Spring Fling.

“If we are not able to contract artists of that size, our second choice would be putting together three of four smaller acts of a larger diversity which students could still get excited about,” she said.

-Trevor Martin contributed to this report.