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.