Community Life Service introduces new event at Welcome Week
Photo: CC Kristoff Acke
As summer comes to an end and students are making their way back to campus, the Community Life Service (CLS) team wants to make sure students and staff start the school year off with a bang. They’ve put together the newest, and one of the biggest, Welcome Week events—the uO Show.
The uO Show is a free concert beginning at 7 p.m. on Sept. 10 in front of the Faculty of Social Sciences (FSS) building on campus. The concert will feature two Canadian acts, electropop group Misteur Valaire and indie rock band Half Moon Run.
Melanie Bellefeuille is an officer for events and general programming at CLS, and the lead of the CLS programming team who put this event together for the University of Ottawa community. She said she and her team reached out to students on campus to get a feel for which acts should grace the stage at the uO Show.
“A concert with big names will get everybody hyped up for the week and definitely for the school year,” says Bellefeuille of the decision to hold the event.
Montreal-based band, Half Moon Run’s critically acclaimed debut album was released in 2012. The band has been playing the festival circuit in North America and Europe, capturing audiences around the world. Their new album, Sun Leads Me On, will be released in October.
Misteur Valaire hails from Sherbrooke, Québec, and released their first album in 2005. The electropop group has been nominated for the Polaris Music Prize, and shortlisted for a Juno Award. The band is well-known for their hit songs like “Bellevue Avenue” and energetic stage presence, which is sure to get U of O students rallied up and excited for the coming school year.
Bellefeuille and her team are hoping that the event will be successful enough to make it a permanent fixture of future Welcome Weeks. With the acclaimed headliners and the thousands of students who have already clicked “going” on the Facebook event page, this doesn’t seem like it will be a problem.
With the campus undergoing expansion, specifically the U of O’s plans for more open space by FSS, the CLS team is also hoping to hold more concerts throughout the school year. “Concerts are definitely what the students are looking for especially when it’s free with big names, so that’s definitely a staple that we want to keep.”
The Student Federation of the University of Ottawa’s (SFUO) also holds a concert during 101 week called Fedstock, which this year will be headlined by electronic dance music group, A Tribe Called Red.
Bellefeuille also explains that students don’t have to worry about being bored between the two acts sets. There will be a DJ to keep the energy up while the equipment is being changed over, as well as food trucks on site to make sure everyone’s satisfied.
This free event is only available for U of O staff and students to attend, so bring your student or staff card and get ready to start the year off right.
