The Campus Consciousness Tour will be on campus starting Wednesday afternoon.
Singer and songwriter Nate Ruess will "carry you home tonight" when he makes his next stop in Athens.
Ruess, the Grammy Award-winning frontman for the alternative rock band fun., will perform Wednesday at Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium as a part of the Campus Consciousness Tour. Saint Motel, an indie-pop band, will open for Ruess.
Though Ruess is arguably best known for singing on fun.’s No. 1 hit “We Are Young,” he is touring in promotion of his 2015 solo album, Grand Romantic, while fun. is on hiatus. Previously, Ruess was a member of the indie band The Format, which has since disbanded. Grand Romantic debuted June 16 and has spawned a couple of singles, including “Nothing Without Love.”
Tickets are $45 for the first 10 rows and $25 for the remaining seats. OU students who purchase one ticket can receive another one free, according to an email sent by the University Program Council.
Both Ruess and the Campus Consciousness Tour have come to OU in the past. Andrew Holzaepfel, senior associate director of the Campus Involvement Center, said Ruess was a part of the tour along with the rest of fun. in 2011. The difference was only a "few people knew who fun. were," Holzaepfel said.
"Probably about a month after they were here, they blew up," he said.
The Campus Consciousness Tour is sponsored this year by REVERB and NextGen Climate.
"It's a fun tour to do on campuses because, not only is it the concert itself, (but the tour is) throughout campus all day long," Holzaepfel said.
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NextGen Climate is an environmental advocacy group which organizes ways for the public to reach out to its local politicians and the rest of the country to raise awareness regarding climate change, according to its website and an email from spokeswoman Amanda Wurst. REVERB brings awareness to different topics at college campuses, and this year it is rallying with NextGen Climate in support of clean energy.
This year's theme consists of an Eco-Village, which will be set up outside of MemAud from 12 p.m. until 3 p.m. on Wednesday, Matt Thomson, assistant director of student activities at the Campus Involvement Center, said in an email.
“NextGen Climate and REVERB are working together to activate students to get them to ask their representatives to support 50 percent clean energy by 2030,” Chris Spinato, project manager at REVERB, said. “The way we always (involve students) on our Campus Consciousness Tour is through our Eco-Village. ... We invite students to come, play some games, have some fun and learn about different ways they can be involved in helping the environment.”
Saint Motel is from California and its most recent EP, My Type, released Aug. 17, 2014. The title track has been featured in the video games FIFA 15 and Pro Evolution Soccer 2016.
Burgandy Hollingshead, an undecided freshman, said she planned to go to the concert when she found out that Saint Motel would be opening.
"I bought (tickets) when they first went on sale," she said. "I do like (Nate Ruess) a little bit. I don't know his songs, but I can listen to him."
According to a press release, Ruess released his solo album, Grand Romantic, because he wanted to make "an album that had more falling-in-love songs than falling-out-of-love songs, because they don’t exist enough these days.”
Holzaepfel said he has seen an overall positive reaction to the upcoming event and said now is a good time for Ruess to be back at OU.
"(Ruess is a) multiple platinum-selling artist," he said. "He has a single with P!nk. He's breaking into all this kind of new solo stuff, so it seemed like a great time to bring him back on campus."
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