Star Course, an organization that strives to expand the University’s music scene, announced its first show of the season yesterday.

Neon Indian, an electronic band from Denton, Texas, will be performing at 8 p.m on Oct. 30 starting at City Center in Champaign. The doors open at 7 p.m. and audience members must be at least 19 years old to attend.

Tickets cost $21 for University students and $24 for the general public, and will go on sale starting this Friday.

Neon Indian was founded in 2008 by lead singer Alan Palomo, and in 2010, Rolling Stone named the group one the best new bands of 2010.

Keenan Schmidt, sophomore in DGS, has been a fan of Neon Indian for the past five years.

“I like the `80s influence that he has. He has a bit of a psychedelic take to his music, at least in his older albums, and it’s really funky. You can dance to it, and it’s also kind of echo-y and ghostly,” Schmidt said.

Schmidt said that he’s excited to attend Neon Indian’s upcoming performance and see how he has evolved as a musician over the past few years.

“When I first started listening to him, his music fit this genre chill wave much more and it was almost kind of all beat centric and really, really heavily synthesized and filtered, whereas his newer music is much more clear `80s pop. I’m excited to see if there’s a mix of that and hearing him actually sing and seeing his performance,” Schmidt said.

Alex Doherty, sophomore in LAS, said that she’s excited to finally see Neon Indian live because many of her friends saw him over the summer.

Last year’s major performances put on by Star Course included both Nate Ruess and Rae Sremmurd, which were both held at the Foellinger Auditorium. However, Neon Indian will take place at City Center.

“I haven’t been to a show in the City Center but I can imagine that it will give the experience a more concert-like feel,” Doherty wrote via email. “Shows in Foellinger remind me too much of my classes.”

Schmidt said that he thinks the venue will be a nice change compared to Foellinger because audience members won’t have to be burdened by unnecessary seating. However, he thinks that it offers a disadvantage for students who don’t have transportation because it won’t be right on the Main Quad.

“I consider them to be bigger than most bands that come during the school year, excluding Pygmalion festival performers, so that makes it even more exciting,” Doherty wrote.

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