Is it all it’s hyped up to be?
On the 8th of June, 2,500 students will be attending SUSU’s “biggest annual event in the SUSU calendar”- the Grad Ball. But is the £50 price tag justifiable?
A University Graduation Ball is a grand opportunity for finalists to let their hair down after three or four years of slaving away, but isn’t Southampton’s “glitzy” event just a glorified replica of the student night at the run-of-the-mill Oceana?
The theme of ‘Music Through The Ages’ sounds appealing, until you remember that this the norm in Oceana on a Wednesday night.
The only difference is that a few guest acts will be replacing those TOWIE celebrities so famous that we feel obliged to have selfies with them out of sympathy.
Previous years have seen students stating preference over which guests will perform at the Grad Ball, seeing top-drawer stars take to the Oceana stage such as Pendulum and Ella Eyre.
But this year, students haven’t had this pleasure, and the line-up is, quite honestly, shocking.
Among the acts set to grace the stage at this year’s Grad Ball will be the hit-maker Katy B, Labrinth, who made his name back in 2010 but now belongs on Heart FM, Basshunter who was a coming-to-nothing, B*Witched who had one incredibly irritating single, and various tribute acts.
Surely for £50 a head, SUSU can do better than this.
In this light, spending £50 on a glorified Oceana night out seems to be pushing it a little.
This brings to our attention an issue that has recently been brewing – that is the lack of communication between SUSU and its students, the notion that people are falling out of love with SUSU.
Whereas at other University Grad Balls, such as Warwick, a three-course sit-down dinner is provided, the Grad Ball will offer an array of extortionate junk-food stalls located in the car park.
I suppose this saves the effort of having to stumble across to McDonalds…
Let’s be honest- SUSU has failed to make this year’s Grad Ball what the graduating students want.
But, then again, there is something to be said for the fact that it is one of the final blow outs of our university life before entering the real world.
Prasana Uthayakumar, an ex-Engineering student who graduated in 2014, told us:
Loads of people complained about the price in my year before the grad ball. People even said they were going to boycott and not buy their tickets.
But it’s one of those events you only realise its value after the night; celebrating the end of an era with some of the best mates you’ve made at uni is priceless.
And if you don’t fancy forking out £50, there are other cheaper events such as Common People or the Boat Party to see off the University years in style.
Is Grad Ball a rip-off? Or is it worth it for a final blowout? Let us know in the comments below.
Incredibly irritating? B*Witched are the voice of a generation! C’est La Vie is a symphony of awesomeness
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Exactly! Though it’s not all about C’est La Vie of course. Four UK number 1s and two albums were the cake which their latest EP creamed on top off.
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Been to 3 in my time here. Only ‘enjoyed’ one, and that was before Oceana.
You don’t get what you pay for, it’s basically impossible to see all the acts you want. And I just feel ripped off when you accidentally stumble into a private room filled with SABBS and others drinking free champagne (grad ball 2012).
For your 50 quid, get 10 friends, go out for a 30 quid dinner and each put in the remaining 20 and buy a £200.00 bottled of scotch then go drink it wearing a tux.
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That sounds like a much better idea than a Grad Ball to me. Me and my friends did a dinner before our Grad Ball, I wish we had stayed there rather go on to the Drab Ball…
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OR, you can buy a boatload of basics cider and have a massive house party.
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I’d really rather a nice meal out then get horrifically drunk with some close friends, but that’s just me lol
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Grad Ball 2011 was really rather awful to be honest. Located at Dock Gate 11 (I think?), we were either in a departure lounge or in the terminal building for the ferries. Yes, there were some good points: Chesney Hawkes and SUJO. There were unfortunately many more bad points though.
– The venue was terrible. The main stage was located in the terminal building, with a concrete floor and very little decoration.
– Portaloos! £50, and we get portaloos.
– Drinks were a rip off (but then again, that’s what special nights are about it seems).
– On the whole, the acts were rubbish. Tinchy Stryder and some imitation pop singer were on either side of Chesney Hawkes, and the main stage was almost empty for both of them. People (me included) had left before Chris Stark came on.
– No food. At all. Well, if you don’t count the candy floss stall outside, or the greasy burger van you’d expect in a cheap fairground.
Oh, and there was no hint of who the acts were going to be before the tickets went on sale. Everyone assumed tickets would sell out really quickly, so the website crashed as everyone tried to get tickets. When the acts were released, myself and a lot of others were very tempted to try and get refunds or sell them on, but no luck on that front.
Basically, in answer to the title question, no, the Grad Ball is not worth the price you pay. In my opinion, it’s not worth the price of the card the ticket is printed on. But then what do I know, I was only a student…
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Excellent journalism
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The line up is atrocious. After 3 years I do not rate SUSU at all – A lot of Universities have great student nights, the cube was awful. No one turned up because it was on a Friday, the best night for a lot of other clubs. Moreover, SUSU’s idea for a good night out is more akin to a Year 9 school disco, they really need start catering for nights which university students actually want. Bit late for me but they can still start to to change their socially inept ideas ie no one cares about Labrinth, bassehunter ect, which just reeks tacky – people want it to be a slightly classy affair. Everyone I’ve spoken to said it sounds dreadful and are only going because it signifies the end of university and represents our last big night with everyone before people go on their separate ways. Sort it out SUSU, no one is actually going because they like the sound of what you’ve got installed for us. You’re rubbish.
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You have hit the nail on the head here Nicholas. You really do not see where your money goes… £125,000 just on tickets
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That assumes they actually sell 2500 – the fact they’ve reopened sales is probably an indication that they’ve not/aren’t even close
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Went last year as was when the majority of my friends were leaving and didn’t even consider going again.
The acts are largely pointless – they’re scattered around and significantly overlap, and to be honest normal DJ music would do the same job.
The fairground was so busy and expensive you spent 30mins queuing for one ride and then left because lets face it – nobody wants to be ruining expensive outfits on knockoff rides. You also weren’t allowed any drinks in there at all so had to keep re-queing if you wanted to stay there for any period of time.
The venue is no more special than any other generic Wednesday with the exception of the drinks being 3x the price and less (if any) formal photographers. The one night you would actually want them there…
If I’m honest I don’t really know where the £125k goes – ridiculously overpriced considering the only redeeming factor is that everyone is in the same place at the same time.
If the Uni wants to carry on charging that price there should definitely be a sit-down meal. AU ball costs £2 less for that and still includes an act and a nice venue…
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SUSU cant run a decent student night. They cant compete with the cheapness/AU appeal of Jesters or Sobar. They cant compete with Orange Rooms/Switch for a standard Friday. And now Junk/Switch have a couple of decent acts a week, they certainly cant compete with an electronic music-ey night (not that they would endorse that amount of drug taking on the premises).
Worse than their inexperience in running a decent night, is the fact that SUSU have no idea what students want from Grad ball. Where was the poll asking about themes, acts, locations? Where were the questions over whether to have dining or non dining tickets? Where is the committee of students organizing the thing?
Every year is the same: an overpriced ticket for a mediocre night: mediocre food, mediocre venue, mediocre music. Vote with your wallet, go for a meal somewhere, hit up the boat ball with some mates.
Let SUSU know what you think. Nothing is going to change unless you do: .
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The fact that the date is scheduled for the start date of the nurses final placement is pretty poor as well. Excluding the nurses from grad ball confirms again that we aren’t part of the university culture and not considered enough by SUSU.
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I agree with everything in this article and most of the comments but honestly so tired of nurses acting like martyrs. Can you please just get over yourselves?
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To be fair, ‘Martyrdom and you’ is the title of one of their first year modules.
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tl;dr – No.
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Hey! Grad Ball is great but flawed. It’s being discussed at AGM on the 13th. It comes under idea 13 (Make SUSU less corporate, and more student-run.) and 15 (There should be a student-run Grad Ball committee). Worth going if you care about it, even if you’re not here next year. https://www.susu.org/…/general-meeting/2015/idea-ranking
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Learn how to share links – FFS!!
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LOL… S Club 😀
https://sotontab.co.uk/2015/05/11/s-club-confirmed-as-final-grad-ball-act/
https://sotontab.co.uk/2014/10/05/freshers-ball-disaster/
Who’s bright idea was that?
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