With two performances brought to campus by DUU Major Attractions this fall, students can soak up some live stand-up comedy and an indie rock concert without breaking the bank. Actor and stand-up comedian Aziz Ansari will perform at Page Auditorium on Oct. 25; a dual bill of indie acts Local Natives and Blind Pilot will follow on Nov. 2.
Ansari, who stars on NBC’s Parks and Recreation and co-starred with Jesse Eisenberg in this year’s 30 Minutes or Less, was a natural choice to bring to campus, according to Major Attractions chair Julia Hawkins. Ansari’s well-reviewed stand-up debut, Intimates for a Sensual Evening, displayed the comic’s youthful, pop culture-informed brand of humor.
Although booking indie rock acts bucks a recent trend by Major Attractions—last year’s performances included mainstream hip-hop artists Chiddy Bang and Lupe Fiasco—Hawkins expects that Local Natives and Blind Pilot will be well received by the Duke student body.
“When we were discussing our outlook for 2011-2012, we felt we had done way too much mainstream hip-hop and that the student body was craving diversity in music,” she said.
She added that DUU tried to choose bands that were relatively recognizable. Both Local Natives debut album Gorilla Manor and Blind Pilot’s first LP 3 Rounds and a Sound charted on the Billboard Top 200.
“These two bands aren’t that weird indie rock that only music snobs like to listen to,” Hawkins said. “They’re the kind of band that can be put on in an environment and everybody, whether or not they’ve heard them before, is immediately drawn to their music.”
Blind Pilot was also on her committee’s radar because of the success of 3 Rounds and a Sound, which was released in 2008, Hawkins said. Their second album, We Are The Tide, was released earlier this month.
“They’re not a crazy, wild, out-there band, but they have beautiful voices,” Hawkins said. “Both bands will carry very well in Page.”
Lynn Vandendriessche, chair of Speakers and Stage, said that although her committee looks to find innovative performers, they try to bring in comedians each year because they are popular with the student body.
“One of our goals is to lighten the spirits of the Duke community, and I think comedians are a good way to do that,” Vandendriessche said. “The beauty of Aziz is that he relates to such a wide set of the Duke community that there’s not one specific student group that we think is going to buy all the tickets really fast.”
With only 1,200 seats in Page Auditorium, DUU expects tickets for Ansari to sell out and Local Natives and Blind Pilot to do “very well,” Hawkins said.
Although Page puts a more concrete constraint on the number of people who can attend the events, Hawkins argued that Page’s long history as a concert venue and superior acoustics made it ideal for large-scale DUU events.
“A lot of people have performed on that stage,” Hawkins said. “We think that the students will appreciate these shows down the road, that they attended some very memorable events.”
Tickets for Ansari’s performance will be available for students on Oct. 4, and to the general public on Oct. 5. Tickets for the Local Natives/Blind Pilot bill go on sale for students on Oct. 6, and for the general public the next day.
Aziz Ansari will perform at Page Auditorium on Tuesday, Oct. 25; Local Natives and Blind Pilot will perform there on Wednesday, Nov. 2. Tickets for each event are $15 for students and $25 for the general public.
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