In an effort to bring Greek life back to athletics, the Interfraternity Council is hosting a free concert prior to the Friday, Sept. 29 football game, featuring Louis The Child.

“We’ve been working very closely with the athletic department the past year as a way to get Greek life motivated again and excited about our athletic programs on campus,” said Ross Bessinger, junior in Media and vice president of public relations for the Interfraternity Council.

Bessinger said that most students involved in Greek life choose to go to bars before the football games over Grange Grove.

“A lot of Big Ten schools have huge tailgating atmospheres and that is something the athletic department has expressed they would like to see return to the U of I,”  Bessigner said. “We have another initiative of trying to build more of a community aspect to our Greek system here on campus.”

The tailgate will take place from 3 to 6:30 p.m. at Grange Grove. The concert will feature Louis The Child, Luminate and DJ Mixerman.

This event is also meant to jumpstart the initiative to reconnect the Greek community. Alec Wasowicz, senior in Engineering, said in an email that he heard about the event through announcements that Illini Pride and IFC had made.

Wasowicz is a part of Zeta Psi and believes that the event will succeed in its goals.

“I think the different Greek chapters are perfectly willing to come together for something like this, and I believe that more people will go to football games as our team gets better,” he said.

As of the date of publication, over 1,000 people have responded ‘interested’ to the Facebook event page for the concert.

“The Facebook event itself has a reach of 51 thousand people. . . . we have 1.5 thousand respondents to the event.” Bessigner, said. “As far as IFC specifically sponsoring a tailgate, this is the only tailgate we are specifically sponsoring. However, we have multiple chapters that have elected to tailgate every week instead of go block at the bars.”

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