American singer-songwriter Beck has become the latest act announced for this year’s Trinity Summer Series.
Beck, who has won seven Grammys, will play in Trinity on July 5th as part of the fourth instalment of the Summer Series, which takes place in College Park.
He will join The Specials, Walking on Cars, Crowded House and Michael Kiwanuka – who will play with Alabama Shakes frontwoman Brittany Howard – at the series.
Tickets for the gigs are currently selling for between €49 and €60, according to Ticketmaster.
Beck’s latest album, Hyperspace, which was released last November, will likely feature heavily.
Hyperspace is the 14th album released by the artist, in a career that has spanned over three decades. Two of his albums – Odelay and Sea Change – were ranked among the 500 greatest albums of all time by music magazine Rolling Stone.
Foals, Janelle Monae, New Order, Vampire Weekend and others took to the stage in Trinity for last year’s Summer Series.
Oxford indie band Foals, who have had three Mercury Prize nominations, came to Trinity just days after delivering a “magic” set at Glastonbury 2019.
Foals, announced as a headline act at the Trinity Summer Series last January, announced the surprise concert just two hours before it began, tweeting: “Cat’s out of the bag.”
The Summer Series has become a key money-making initiative for Trinity in recent years. Speaking to The University Times in 2017, Provost Patrick Prendergast said: “When we have an opportunity to make money from events, we need to do it. Every university is doing it …. and this is generating revenue we can use for academic purposes.”
Over the last number of years, Trinity has been placing an increased focus on commercialisation, as well as exploiting its potential as a visitor attraction. In 2016, in an address to mark the midpoint of his tenure, Prendergast warned that “fees, philanthropy and commercialisation” would be central to the funding future of third-level education.
In 2016, the College’s Commercial Revenue Unit set up Trinity Brand Commercial Services Ltd, an independent company aimed at establishing Trinity as a global brand. The independent commercial company planned to imitate the successes of colleges such as Harvard University, which sells everything from stationery to branded chairs.
