Despite worries that the Last Day of Classes would be impacted by forecasted rain, the concert carried on without interference from Mother Nature.
LDOC committee chairs Kristin Miller and Holly McLean, both seniors, said that compared to previous years, this year’s LDOC was less stressful and went more smoothly. Although the LDOC committee never publicly shared any plans for inclement weather, the concert was held on Abele Quadrangle and finished before the rain started later in the evening.
“We were so relieved about the weather,” Miller said. “As we were taking our committee picture on the stage, I felt a drop on my head. The timing could not have been better.”
LDOC daytime programming included free massages by the Chapel, food trucks, morning yoga, bubble soccer and face painting. This year’s lineup featured Rae Sremmurd, Matoma, Saint Motel and Wes Walker & DYL.
McLean said she really enjoyed last year’s line-up and wanted to replicate its diversity in music style for this year’s LDOC concert. She compared Saint Motel’s laid-back set to Misterwives last year and Rae Sremmurd to T-Pain and Jeremih’s energy. This year, the committee added a tropical EDM artist, Matoma, which McLean noted is becoming more popular.
After booking the first three artists, the committee still had money left in the budget and decided to bring in Wes Walker & DYL.
“We thought that would be kind of fun just because ‘Jordan Belfort’ is such a Shooters song, and he’s an up-and-comer, so we thought he would fit with the Duke culture,” McLean said.
Many students also said that this year’s LDOC and the performing artists were comparable to last year’s lineup.
Senior Amari El-Amin, who was abroad during LDOC last year, said she looked forward to this year’s lineup. She also noted that she was grateful for all the free water bottles, but that she would have liked to see free water bottles on Central Campus as well.
Freshman Ellie Pasquale said that she enjoyed her first LDOC experience because of the daytime programming.
“LDOC definitely lived up to all the hype,” Pasquale said. “The food trucks, free barbecue and water everywhere were definitely pluses. The high energy of all the performers made the concert a blast.”
Students also noted aspects of LDOC that could be improved.
“I didn’t like that I had to show my Duke ID to the security even though I already had a wristband, a wristband that required me to have a Duke card in the first place,” El-Amin said.
As far as recommendations for future LDOC Committees, McLean and Miller advised troubleshooting earlier in the day and getting more diversity in the lineup.
“It was obviously clear that [it] was all males this year, but we would love to see the next committee maybe bring some female artists,” McLean said.
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