“If I could have been at a past Dillo, I would have gone to the B.o.B. Dillo. "Airplanes" was the anthem of my middle school years, and though ideally Hayley Williams would have to be there too, I would love to hear that song live.” - Elly Rivera
“Dillo Day lineups are usually mixed bags for me. They usually feature some of the most promising up-and-comers in hip-hop and R&B, but Mayfest also tends to get bands that play the sort of polished indie rock that I’ve never been a big fan of. One year that actually managed to get cutting edge hip-hop and clever alternative rock is 2007. The Roots’ blend of socially conscious hip-hop and live instrumentation have made them legends of the concert circuit, and Lupe Fiasco was still a promising alternative voice in hip-hop at the time. It would have been nice to see these acts before record labels broke Lupe, and The Roots stood complicit in Jimmy Fallon’s crimes against comedy. On the rock side, Cake’s sardonic anthems have the personality that too many past Dillo acts have lacked.” - Marco Cartolano
“Okay, I’m sorry. But the 2013 lineup (Wiz Khalifa, Lunice, Smash Mouth, Danny Brown and Walk the Moon) had no business being this lit. You’ve got the perfect daytime band in Walk the Moon right at the peak of “Anna Sun” hype (still way more of an anthem than “Shut Up and Dance,” in my humble opinion). You’ve got your (un?) ironic reason to nap-and-rally so you don’t miss drunkenly jamming to the Shrek soundtrack live. And finally, you’ve got the chance to see the man, the myth, the legend perform “We Dem Boyz” before it became a universal frat house banger. Do any of these bands make sense together? No. Would all of these concerts be fantastic? Yes. Did Dillo really peak in the year of 2013? TBD.” - Kathryn Mohr
“I'm convinced part of the 2008 Dillo Day lineup was curated specifically for me. Sure, I'm not into every artist — who is Ted Leo? — but there are some true gems. Third Eye Blind, a band I'll defend to my death and who I caught a drumstick from once, was the daytime headliner, before releasing new music for the first time in five years in November 2008. Later that afternoon, Canadian alt-rock collective Broken Social Scene performed, complete with Amy Millan from Stars on some vocals and ahead of their Chicago-made Forgiveness Rock Record. The real treat, though, would have been the DJ set from Arcade Fire's Will Butler (Weinberg '05). It's not the on-campus Arcade Fire concert I'm still waiting for, but it must have been an exciting set seven years before Butler's first solo album. On top of it all, with Common as the nighttime headliner, I'd get to end my Dillo experience before dinner and party the night away.” - Justin Curto
"If I would have graduated high school two years earlier, I could have been there to see Saint Motel in 2015. Then again, Saint Motelevision didn't come out until 2016 – so I have no clue what they'd play. Brings a whole new meaning to “At Least I Have Nothing”." - Emma Kumer
“Though I maintain that OutKast’s “Hey Ya” is the anthem of our generation, I think I’d actually have to go back to Dillo 2010 to see Regina Spektor (sorry, Andre). Her song “The Call” that’s featured at the end of The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian is one of the few things in the world that makes me cry without fail. I would’ve also loved to bop to “On the Radio,” which later would become forever associated in my mind with Beastly, a movie that starred Alex Pettyfer and Vanessa Hudgens and was possibly the most 2011 thing to ever happen.” - Mia Mamone
“It would have been great to see Walk The Moon in 2013 before “Shut Up And Dance” came along and made us all sick and tired of listening to Walk The Moon. Also, Smash Mouth was that same year. Although the entire campus would likely be blacked out by the end of their set – because the way Dillo goes, the beers start coming and they don’t stop coming and they don’t stop coming and they don’t stop coming …” - Ben Bomier
Who knows – maybe someday future Northwestern students will lament that they weren’t there for Dillo that had CupcakKe.