Six days remain until DJ Steve Aoki’s performance in Goldstein Auditorium, but the sold-out crowd hasn’t guaranteed that all Syracuse University students are happy about the choice.

 

April Gelbard, a sophomore biomedical engineering major, is one of many students who lined up outside Schine Box Office on Sept. 22 to make sure she got to see her favorite DJ perform on Oct. 11.

 

‘He is probably one of my favorite artists,’ said Gelbard, who had the chance to see Aoki perform in Florida over the summer.

 

‘The concert is unlike any other concert you will ever go to,’ she added. ‘The music is amazing, and everyone is in such a good mood, dancing, cheering and singing. I absolutely cannot wait,’ Gelbard said.

 

Gelbard added that the $5 price of the ticket was ‘incredible’ compared to the $30 she had to pay to see him at the summer venue.

 

‘It’s great that the school is giving the students such a discount,’ she said.

 

Tickets for the Steve Aoki concert are sold out. Gelbard was one of the 300 students able to purchase a ticket for the concert. Meanwhile, University Union’s Steve Aoki event page on Facebook has more than 220 confirmed guests as of Tuesday night. The page is brimming with posts from students hoping to find an extra ticket.

 

Even with the buzz around Aoki, students who are unfamiliar with the performer said they had no interest in attending.

 

‘I am a little disappointed that a DJ is coming,’ said Shelby Epps, a sophomore writing and English major. ‘I’d rather see a band.’

 

But this year will see a slight difference to the usual Bandersnatch offerings. Trevor Elwell, the co-president of the Bandersnatch Music Series, said the Homecoming 

Week committee approached UU about having a DJ competition this year. The winner of the competition will open for Aoki.

 

‘They had the whole scenario of the DJ genre set, and we just kind of went with it,’ said Elwell, a senior in the Bandier Program for Music and Entertainment Industries. ‘We looked at a bunch of different artists, and we got Steve Aoki.’

 

The second Bandersnatch Music Series performance is UU’s main focus right now, Elwell said.

 

‘We are going to hang posters all over campus and online next week,’ Elwell said. ‘We want to create a want for the show.’

 

The second group in the music series, Two Door Cinema Club, will be performing in Schine Underground on Oct. 19.

 

Taylor Noel, a sophomore sport management major, said she knew very little about either upcoming artist in the Bandersnatch Music Series.

 

‘I have never heard of Bandersnatch, and I am not familiar with the two artists that are coming to SU,’ Noel said. ‘The fact that I don’t know the bands that are playing means I’m less likely to go.’

 

Elwell said that even though student opinion is crucial when picking the artists, it also depends on who is available, how much each artist charges and who UU thinks would do well here.

 

‘We try to see what markets are bigger in our school,’ Elwell said. ‘Every semester, we send out surveys in hopes of finding artists that the students like. We use that information, even though we might not be able to get everyone.’

 

 

mgegkolf@syr.edu