Rap-sensation Nelly is coming to the Saint Louis University campus in one week and tickets are still available.
“It should be a great performance,” said Chris Grabau, program coordinator for the Office of Student Life. “We haven’t seen an event where there has been this much excitement at SLU.”
Nelly, along with the St. Lunatics, will be performing with rap artist Toya, a former SLU student. The opening act will be DJ K9, a local DJ who has previously opened for Nelly.
The $15 tickets went on sale last Thursday, Nov. 25, in the Billiken Sports Complex creating a steady line of students for the entirety of the first two days.
But tickets are not sold out yet.
Grabau said that students seem to have two trains of thought. Some students think that tickets are sold out. Other students think that they can buy the tickets at their leisure, when they get around to it.
“Both are wrong,” Grabau said. “I have a feeling that a lot of students procrastinate, but the show will definitely sell out.”
He encourages students that want to see the show to hurry and purchase their tickets in the Office of Student Life in the upper level of the Busch Memorial Center.
Approximately 2,000 tickets have been sold thus far and the total available for sale is 2,700. “Since it’s not a concert venue, we have to follow fire codes,” Grabau said.
SLU will not be Nelly’s first stop in St. Louis. On Nov. 2, Nelly and St. Lunatics will perform at the Pageant. That show sold out in a couple of days and the tickets cost more than $20. The sell-out makes Grabau confident that if the University’s performance was open to the public, it would already be sold out.
“This event is financed through the student activity fee,” Grabau said. “It’s only fair that those who paid for it should benefit from it.”
Members of the Student Activities Board are also confident that the event should be only for SLU students. “The way we run ticket sales, I don’t think there is any question,” said Erin Dunn, SAB president.
Nelly is really receptive to the idea of the concert being a student-only show as well, according to Grabau. “We didn’t want to shut people out, but we wanted to make sure that students had the priority,” he said.
Nelly and the other performers seem really happy to come to campus, according to members of Student Life. One of the first events on this leg of his tour, SLU is the only college this fall.
“There may be more colleges in the spring that Nelly will perform for, but SLU is the only one this fall,” Grabau said.
But an event of this caliber doesn’t just happen. Planning for the concert has been in the works since the first weeks of the semester.
“SAB has been really amazing to coordinate something like this,” Grabau said. “The people at the Simon Rec have also been good to work with.”
“I am just so excited to have such a big name come to campus,” Dunn said.
Grabau, along with members of SAB, understands the magnitude of Nelly coming to perform on SLU’s campus. “Eventually, this could lead to hosting future events with other artists of this size,” Grabau said.
A structural engineer came to check out the floor of the rec center, as the stability of it was in question last year when rapper Wyclef Jean performed. Grabau said that was more of a precaution as opposed to an actual problem. “There is no question of that it was just a concern,” he said.
