GW will welcome two musical performing acts to campus this spring within almost one week of each other.
Grammy award-winning artist Sheryl Crow will perform in Smith Center April 22 as part of the Stop Global Warming College Tour. GW will be Crow’s last stop and free tickets will be available to students, faculty and staff who have a valid GWorld.
Also announced Wednesday is that Regina Spektor will headline this year’s Spring Fling, the annual outdoor concert sponsored by Program Board. The Moscow-native Spektor has risen to fame in the last three years with her album “Begin to Hope,” which was released last year and hit No. 20 on the Billboard 200 records chart.
Director of Media Relations Tracy Schario said both events point to GW’s ability to attract high-caliber acts.
“GW is unique in that here we are in an urban environment and there are so many events that students can go to off campus, yet we still have an incredible array of politicians, entertainers and performers that we bring to the University and that come to the University,” she said.
Crow is touring with environmental activist Laurie David, who served as a producer for Al Gore’s Oscar winning film “An Inconvenient Truth” and is also comedian Larry David’s wife. Crow will end her 12-campus tour April 22.
Schario said representatives from the tour contacted GW and other area Universities and opted for a stop in Foggy Bottom.
“From a University perspective, we welcome the tour,” she said.
The tour’s major push is to increase publicity about global warming, which Schario said is an issue important to many GW students.
“We have a number of student groups that are champions of green issues and so from a student perspective, it definitely helps them raise their visibility for what those students are doing to keep GW green,” she said.
According to a University press release Wednesday, Crow and David will be joined by country music stars Faith Hill and Tim McGraw.
Program Board’s Concerts Chair Zach Pentel, who is also a Hatchet arts writer, said Spektor was their first-choice act.
“We’re extremely excited,” he said. “She’s a rising star in the music industry who keeps selling more and more records every week and is on VH1 almost every day.”
Spring Fling will have a different schedule this April compared to previous years, Pentel said. The festivities will be part of four days’ worth of events with Spektor headlining the weekend in a University Yard concert on the evening of April 14.
“Regina will attract a pretty broad and vibrant audience because she appeals to so many different genres,” he said.
Spektor is most famous for songs including “On the Radio” and “Fidelity.”
“Our philosophy emphasizes the quality of the act as the number one concern,” Pentel said.
Last year Talib Kweli headlined Spring Fling, while two years ago Lloyd Banks took the stage. Fall Fest acts of previous years include hip-hop artist Common last fall, Robert Randolph and the Family Band last year and Pat McGhee two years ago.
