The Decemberists, N.E.R.D. listed as performing on Dillo Day
A clarification (updated 4/7, 4:31 p.m.): North by Northwestern reported accurately that a publicist from EMI Music told us in an e-mail that The Decemberists are scheduled to play on May 30 at Northwestern. When we contacted this publicist, Natalie Geday from EMI’s Los Angeles office, for further comment on Tuesday, April 7, she declined to answer our questions and instead referred us to our student union. We stand by the original content of this article, which can be viewed below.
Sources have confirmed that indie band The Decemberists and hip-hop group N.E.R.D. are slated to perform on campus for Dillo Day on May 30 of this year.
A publicist for EMI Music, parent company of The Decemberists’ label Capitol Records, confirmed the band’s performance at Northwestern in an e-mail.
The indie pop quintet is based in Portland, Ore. and issued its first major label release, The Crane Wife, in 2006; the album reached number 35 on the Billboard 200 chart. Fronted by lead singer Colin Meloy, the Decemberists have a folk-influenced sound and are often compared to bands like Belle and Sebastian and Neutral Milk Hotel. They released their fifth album, The Hazards of Love, on March 24 and will go on tour this spring to promote the release.
In other Dillo Day news, hip-hop group N.E.R.D. will also play on May 30, according to the tour schedule on the Web site for Billionaire Boys Club, frontman Pharrell Williams’ clothing line.
The band, whose name is an acronym for “no one ever really dies,” is an alternative hip-hop and rock group, and the most recent incarnation of the lifelong musical partnership of Williams and Chad Hugo. Williams and Hugo have worked with many of the giants of the music industry — N.E.R.D opened for Kanye West in his Glow in the Dark tour. “Lapdance” and “She Wants to Move” are two of the band’s well-known songs.
The post on Williams’ Web site announces a number of new “confirmed N*E*R*D Dates.” The band makes stops at a range of universities, including Vanderbilt, Yale and DePaul, in the month leading up to Dillo Day. The band is scheduled to play on May 30 in Evanston for a Northwestern student-only show.
Diana Richter, Mayfest co-chair, declined to comment for this story. She noted that artists tend to comment before Mayfest does because “it’s expected in [an artist's] plans to be more flexible” and can therefore get away with announcing, and then canceling, tour dates.
| Print
way to ruin dillo day, NBN. you suck.
Anon
April 5, 2009 at 1:53 am
Psh, it’s a wonderful press release. And it’s not NBN, blame the bands themselves. Or is that just biting the hand that feeds?
Either way, right on, Mayfest!
Josh
April 5, 2009 at 2:04 pm
don’t know nerd, but congrats asg on getting the decemberists!
Anon
April 5, 2009 at 4:38 pm
so excited about NERD!
cmm
April 5, 2009 at 6:32 pm
“Congrats asg” … asg? …asg? asg has nothing to do with the selection of the decemberists. You should be thanking mayfest. boo ya
Lindsay Goldberg
April 6, 2009 at 12:42 am
This is a pretty classless thing to do. Mayfest has to comply with rules about announcing the lineup, and it’s for a reason.
Groups such as Mayfest and A&O have always maintained the policy never to speak to press (NU affiliated or independent) before event contracts have been confirmed. NBN is clearly no stranger to this rule, since you have published such announcements many times in the past. Regardless of what the bands may have printed on their website, the organization still needs to get permission from the University to make the announcement – if not, they can get into a lot of trouble.
It was really irresponsible, not to mention tactless, to have reported on this beforehand. As a supposedly professionally-run publication, I would have expected better from NBN.
Anon
April 6, 2009 at 9:06 am
LUDARCIS and TAPES ‘N TAPES are also coming this quarter!
http://nuconcerts.blogspot.com
Rick
April 6, 2009 at 7:36 pm
“It was really irresponsible, not to mention tactless, to have reported on this beforehand. As a supposedly professionally-run publication, I would have expected better from NBN.”
if it’s in the public domain, it’s fair game. to withhold on reporting something any student could find out by going to the Decemberists website — just because mayfest doesn’t want them to — would make NBN into shills. it would be one thing if mayfest were the only source for this info and asked for the the story to be embargoed. but that’s not what happened, according to the article. NBN’s interest is its readers, not the organizations they report on. ask any professional.
well
April 6, 2009 at 8:37 pm
First of all “Well” check the Daily tomorrow for the validity of NBN’s “sources”. Second of all if NBN’s interest is in it’s readers, i.e. students, then its interest is by default in Mayfest, which is composed entirely of students. NBN I’m sure does not want to see their journalism get Mayfest in trouble and yet they continue to publish stories that put successful student groups at risk. The policies of the university that do not allow groups like A&O or Mayfest to divulge information are there for a reason so why can’t a Northwestern news outlet respect them? It is also disrespectful to the students on Mayfest and A&O who work incredibly hard to bring these acts to campus and thus have the right to be the first to announce and not have all their thunder stolen from them by pathetic wannabe journalists.
Remember check the Daily for a debunking of NBN’s claims!
anonymous
April 6, 2009 at 9:03 pm
The Daily has already posted a story about N.E.R.D. coming to Dillo Day as well. There’s nothing wrong with using industry sources to leak a lineup before it is 100% official. The Chicago Tribune leaked parts of the Lollapalooza lineup last year and seems to have done it again this year, and no one seems to be complaining. It’s simply a service to the readers like “well” said. At the end of the day, Mayfest will still get the credit for bringing the acts to campus, and that’s all that should really matter.
Lighten up people
April 6, 2009 at 10:48 pm
I second the comments of the last couple of people. This is like complaining about going onto IMDB and reading a spoiler about a movie. Get real! Newspapers/blog report–that is their job. Every single piece of information has people that do not want it to come out or to be reported in the manner that it is–should the newspaper cater to everyone? There would never be any content. So go whine about more important things in your life and stop reading if you do not want to have your life ruined by newspaper reporting.
Terrfeo
April 7, 2009 at 3:49 pm
The Chronicle reported who was coming a week before this was printed, not that anyone reads it though.
hello
April 15, 2009 at 5:19 pm