Nearly two weeks after a successful Icona Pop concert, the Undergraduate Student Government will host two more artists—rapper Lupe Fiasco and DJ 3 LAU—on Thursday, Nov. 6 at this year’s “Back to the Brook” concert.

USG announced the artists during the Icona Pop concert. This is the first time that USG has planned two concerts in such a short timespan.

According to Danny Chung, who is the vice president of Communications and Public Relations for USG, planning began prior to the fall semester.

“Very early in the summer, we started looking at artists, before we had a venue, trying to narrow it down,” Chung said

Chung also said that this concert will be the biggest “Back to the Brook” concert yet.

“I don’t believe that we’ve ever had artists that were as big as Lupe,” Chung said in regards to the concert.

In past years, “Back to the Brook” performers included Mac Miller, The Cataracs and Mother F’Nature, to name a few.

This year’s concert will take place in the newly renovated Island Federal Credit Union Arena, formerly referred to as the Stony Brook Arena.

The last fall concert, which featured Mac Miller and The Cataracs, was held on the Staller Steps. However, security issues with that concert prompted USG to choose a different location for “Back to the Brook.” Despite this, Chung articulated the benefits of having concerts in the arena.

“It’s indoors so rain or shine it will go on. It has better security. It’s temperature controlled and it’s just a better venue overall,” Chung said.

According to Chung, prior to the renovation of the arena, concerts traditionally took place there.

Initially, USG was planning to have “Back to the Brook” in late October. However, due to venue availability, as well as Icona Pop’s availability, USG pushed the “Back to the Brook” concert to early November.

The newly renovated arena is not the only difference between this “Back to the Brook” and last year’s fall concert.

Students can now sign a form to attend concerts via Google Doc. This was done to prevent students from lining up the night before tickets went on sale.

“There was a lot of safety concerns as far as administration and security costs were very high,” Chung said regarding the concerns of students lining up the night before tickets go on sale. “There were so many complaints about students cutting, management not doing their job, making sure no one was cutting.”

Chung expanded upon this, saying that favoritism became an issue—if management knew people who wanted tickets, they would “let them go ahead,” according to Chung.

With this new method, the first 700 students that registered for “Back to the Brook” tickets were eligible to get floor seat tickets.

According to Chung, there is a large number of students attending the concert.

Stony Brook student Maria Elena Lopez, a junior psychology major, intends to go to the concert.

“I know Lupe Fiasco. I don’t really know a lot of his songs, but I’m excited,” Lopez said.

She said that USG did a good job in picking an artist for this concert.

“I think they are honestly doing the best that they can and I’m not too upset with it,” Lopez said.

But for other students, the concert is not that exciting.

“I wasn’t really inclined to buy a ticket,” Courtney Ladowski, a senior Health Science major, said. “I haven’t really been that into the artists that have been [here] for the [concerts].”

In the past USG has tried to use student surveys to help decide on the artist coming to concerts. However, doing so has mislead students in the past.

“When we ask for specific artists it gives false hope. We can’t guarantee that we can get that artist because they might not be available at that date, it might not be in the budget,” Chung said

USG has tried doing similar surveys focusing on various genres as opposed to artists that students would like to see. But Ladowski said that she has only seen one of these surveys once.

This fall, Chung said that many students were asking for rock artist. Some other artists who were under consideration included Panic! At The Disco, Iggy Azalea and Sam Smith, to name a few.

Cost is a big factor when it comes to securing an artist. Chung mentioned that getting a band like Panic! At The Disco or Maroon 5 to perform at Stony Brook costs more money since bands include more people as well as equipment

Despite this, USG as well as students hope the spring concert will top this one.

“I’m looking forward to the big concert,” Lopez said. “I just hope it’s really good in the spring.”