Mayfest: booking the bands
As Northwestern students count down the hours before Dillo Day, Mayfest announced its final lineup on Wednesday. By confirming the presence of supporting acts, the student group ended the months-long process of finalizing the list of artists who will define one of the most exciting days of the year at Northwestern.
Mike Posner, VEGA and Tally Hall complete the Dillo Day lineup. This year’s previously announced headliners include Estelle, The Decemberists, and N.E.R.D.
Duke student and artist Mike Posner, who first spoke to North by Northwestern on May 11 and was confirmed by Mayfest on Tuesday, has been the subject of Northwestern student enthusiasm before he was even approached by Mayfest to perform on Dillo Day, garnering support from hundreds of members of a Facebook group.
“We’ve been aware of him for awhile, because some members of the board were aware of him and were fans,” Mayfest Co-Chair Diana Richter said. “When the group started, that solidified the fact that this guy has Northwestern’s attention.”
Big Sean, who performed on campus earlier this quarter, will also be on stage with Posner.
“They’re a packaged deal. They work well together, and I think Big Sean enjoyed his first time at Northwestern, so why wouldn’t he come again?” Richter said.
DJ Alan Palomo, who goes by the stage name Vega, will also be performing. The artist recently had a set during the Coachella Festival, and was recommended to Mayfest by an agency.
“We listened to his stuff, and it sounded like really great, appropriate music for keeping people pumped waiting for artists,” Richter said.
Michigan rock band Tally Hall will also be present, an act that Mayfest Co-Chair Katherine Hadley said would attract a variety of students.
“They really do appeal to any person’s type of music,” the Communication senior said. “They’re so high energy live that even if you don’t know their music, you can still dance along to them, or at least enjoy them.”
While headlining artists are typically signed earlier in the year, the weeks directly preceding Dillo Day are usually spent looking for supporting acts.
“Starting in November, we’re continuously sending offers, and we generally try to get the biggest name possible, and when those options become exhausted we go to lower price points and smaller artists,” Richter said. “In the last few weeks, that’s when we can start experimenting with the little amount of money that we have left.”
“We’ve had Tally Hall on our radar since September,” Hadley said. “Because they’re smaller bands we didn’t have to worry about them doing massive tours, so we can usually get them on a shorter notice.”
Even though some students expressed disappointment over the 2009 lineup, Richter said that negative reactions happen every year.
“Every year, people complain,” the Weinberg senior said. “We’re dedicating all of our time to the students, and we just want the best for the students, so we’re obviously not going out of our way to make a horrible Dillo Day.”
For Hadley, the diversity of music taste within Mayfest usually guarantees that there is a variety of genres.
“Mayfest sometimes gets a bad rap, because we’re too much into that, too much into this, but we really are a good representation of the whole campus,” she said.
But for Mayfest members, their concerns now lie beyond discussions of the lineup.
“It’s exciting to have the lineup finalized, but on the Mayfest side of things, what matters for us is executing the event,” Richter. “So the lineup is only one fourth of our worries, if that.”
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“Every year, people complain”
That’s true, but no one has complained like they have this year.
I hope Katherine and Diana have/had no say in who co-chairs Mayfest are for next year.
Freshman: This is not what Dillo is usually like. They last few years were way better. The upperclassmen apologize on behalf of Mayfest. That goes for all the future prospies too.
stephen
May 28, 2009 at 1:51 pm
As a freshman, I think the lineup is fine, and so do my friends. Maybe you guys should stop complaining and be more positive. Also, you spelled “Freshmen” wrong, just saying.
Freshman
May 28, 2009 at 6:54 pm
I really like the 2 headliners, but after that it’s a steep drop. Tally Hall and Mike Posner are a huge letdown after Ted Leo and the Cool Kids in the same spots last year. And Estelle can’t even get close to comparing to Broken Social Scene.
The bottom half of the lineup does suck
May 28, 2009 at 8:14 pm
No, this line-up sucks.
Another freshman
May 28, 2009 at 9:59 pm
posner’s awesome, you guys suck.
hah
May 28, 2009 at 10:39 pm
You all suck. Suckity suck suck.
Randy V.
May 28, 2009 at 11:27 pm
Posner is probably going to blow up so it will be cool to say “I saw him before he was famous” in a few years. Plus, your going to be drunk so the memories will probably be about how good of a time you had with friends and not the musical artists. Just have a positive outlook and have a great time out there.
Chris
May 29, 2009 at 1:07 am
“Posner is probably going to blow up so it will be cool to say ‘I saw him before he was famous.’”
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA. You’ve got to be kidding me. you know nothing about music.
Cornell
May 29, 2009 at 9:07 am
He’s definitely better than me.
Lady Gaga
May 30, 2009 at 4:45 pm
Out of curiosity, how was the lineup after people actually gave it a shot?
Graduate
May 31, 2009 at 3:50 pm
not all that
René Jovel aka SupaKat
May 31, 2009 at 7:36 pm
Honestly I think that Mayfest did a great job bringing in artists this year. N.E.R.D. killed it and Estelle was surprisingly good too for me, I was glad she got a band cause when I saw her before it was just a DJ and there wasn’t as much to her show. Plus, I dug her flamboyant back-up singers haha. Mayfest also went as far to provide all the students that pushed for Posner with their boy, and I don’t think you could have asked them for much more. The lineup was diverse and full of artists that cross-genre boundaries and appeal to the general student body.
The only complaints I can agree with on here are the ones about the ETHS kids, cause they were out of control. I dig that Mayfest is open to everyone, but it sucks when it starts messing with the patrons whose tuition goes to pay for the concert. Yet at the same time, its cool that its open to the public so people that live around here or go to other schools around here can come enjoy the concerts too. I know I’d appreciate it if De Paul or Loyola held open/free concerts like Dillo Day.
Ken Ross
May 31, 2009 at 11:09 pm
Last year, Dillo was amazing. Even if you didn’t like Third Eye Blind, it was relatively fun rock out music. And Common was just phenomenal.
There is definitely something to being relatively familiar with the bands before the shows. Most people aren’t familiar with either the Decemberists or NERD’s playlists. (Estelle just sucked, a lot.) And even friends who loved the Decemberists said that this was one of the more disappointing shows of theirs they had seen. NERD was energetic, but the songs just didn’t match how phenomenal Common was last year. The only time I got excited at all was when they played 45 seconds of the White Stripes.
STOP TRYING TO COME OFF AS HIPSTER TOOLS! Get Jack Johnson or OAR; something not as indie or interesting, but something MOST people like!!
Come on Mayfest...
June 2, 2009 at 11:08 pm
Jack Johnson costs $150K+ to book, more than Mayfest’s total artist $$$ allocation. And maybe OAR was not available (and probably slightly too expensive as well). Seriously, if you people think you can do better, join Mayfest and do it yourselves (and find yourselves disappointed by the numerous limitations a student booking group is faced with). I really think an A&O/Mayfest exec person should guest write the booking process for NBN/Daily. There are no secrets, so put the whinners in their places!
-Non-mayfest person
Ungrateful b********
June 2, 2009 at 11:58 pm
P.S. “come on mayfest” do you realize why the decemberists sucked? because they were so far away from the crowd. They are a live band that completely depends upon crowd interaction but because of the trees and shrubbery that was planted within the last year The Decemberists had a shitty set. Not mayfest’s fault. And i guarantee you that Mayfest/A&O consider and attempt to book every single artist you could possible imagine you obnoxious tool
anonymous
June 3, 2009 at 12:13 am
I don’t know why some people are complaining about the Decemberists — I’m a pretty big fan, I’ve seen them live several times, and their show at Dillo Day was FANTASTIC!
NL
June 5, 2009 at 1:32 pm
Personally I was very happy with this year’s lineup, as was I for last year’s. Stop bitching.
Pleased
June 8, 2009 at 4:33 pm
Also, The Decemberists’ set was fantastic. Did you hear the pipes on those girls? It had The Decemberists’ classic indie sensibilities with a dahs of classic rock. Shit was tight.
Pleased
June 8, 2009 at 4:35 pm
Make that dash*
Pleased
June 8, 2009 at 4:36 pm
Oh and “Come on Mayfest:” Yo brah, wanna come over and play some Smash brah, maybe have a little Keystone, brah? Oh and brah, don’t forget your Jack Johnson and Coldplay CD’s brah.
Pleased
June 8, 2009 at 4:40 pm
Thank you very much.
germana
July 28, 2009 at 1:37 am