Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys performs at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on April 17. The Black Keys are the headliner band at this year's Spring W.I.L.D. (Mick Orlosky | Via Flickr)

Team 31 will present The Black Keys as its headliner act and Filligar, B.o.B and the Cool Kids in this year’s spring Walk In Lay Down concert today.

Junior David Schubert, Team 31 co-chair, said that while the performers for Walk In Lay Down (W.I.L.D.)  for the past fall were booked under the Hip Hop Live! tour, the acts in this semester’s W.I.L.D. do not have a similar affiliation, as Team 31 selected the performers to appeal to multiple musical preferences.

“People who have been talking to me when I’m selling T-shirts seem very excited. I think that we brought a diverse lineup, so people in the past who have not liked the artists [will] like this show,” Schubert said. “There’s not going to be any one act that’s going to please the entire student body. I feel like a lot of people who haven’t liked past acts are going to like the Black Keys.”

The performer B.o.B was added to the lineup late to replace Kid Cudi, who cancelled due to a conflicting engagement with his record label.

“I think students were disappointed, as were we, but B.o.B, or Bobby Ray, is also a really exciting up-and-coming artist. He’s been getting a lot of press recently. He’s very talented,” Schubert said. “I feel like he’s going to be big in the coming years as well. He was a logical replacement—he had been on our list along with Kid Cudi for the entire process of booking artists.”

Freshman Michael Offerman said he is excited to see B.o.B, though he acknowledges that the artist is not very well known among students.

“I knew [B.o.B’s] one song,” Offerman said, referring to the song “I’ll Be in the Sky.” “That’s the only song I really know and I’m looking forward to. I have really no reason to stick around after that.”

Schubert said he believes the change to B.o.B in the lineup has been a success.

“The lineups are always somewhat fluid,” he said. “There’s no hard feelings on our end.”

According to Schubert, he and fellow Team 31 Co-chair Ross Festenstein, a sophomore, review student suggestions for artists and determine which ones are possible based on cost and scheduling.

“We considered a lot of different artists. We considered a lot of different directions we could take the music,” Schubert said. “The Black Keys were one of our top choices from the beginning. I’ve seen them before. Their live show is fantastic. I feel like students who haven’t heard of them before will really enjoy it.”

Junior Nadia Mann said she had not heard of The Black Keys before the band was announced for spring W.I.L.D., but she is still looking forward to hearing them.

“I like the mix between things that I do know sometimes and things that I don’t, because I like to learn about the new music,” Mann said.

“It’s rock with a blues influence,” Schubert said of The Black Keys’ style. “Some people make a White Stripes comparison just because it’s a two-person act. There’s also a Led Zeppelin comparison you can draw.”

Inflatable couches in the Quad—a staple of previous W.I.L.D. concerts—will not be available this spring, according to Schubert, since the California supplier Team 31 uses is currently backordered. Team 31 had originally planned to have even more couches than there were at previous concerts.

The couches will be back next fall, according to Schubert.

While the Danforth Campus Bookstore previously sponsored the couches, the Bookstore is funding Wydown Water coolers this spring as a more sustainable alternative to bottled water, Schubert said.

Students 21 years old and above are permitted to bring one six-pack of beer into the Quad before 6 p.m., as was the case for previous W.I.L.D. concerts. Performances will begin at 4 p.m. with the winner of the Battle of the Bands competition, which will be held at Second Stage in the early afternoon.

Free Chipotle burritos will be available starting at 4 p.m. Due to large student interest, more burritos were ordered this year than last year.

Team 31 has been giving away free recordings of The Black Keys during T-shirt sales in the Danforth University Center and the Wohl Center. For those who would like to hear the artists’ music before W.I.L.D., Team 31 has posted links to their music on its Web site, http://wild.wustl.edu.