The Student Events and Activities Board announced at last week’s SEA Thursday that rapper Lil Wayne will be the main performer at NSU’s fourth annual Shark Jam concert on March 12 at 8 p.m. in the Don Taft University Center Arena.
The opening performer will be hip-hop/pop violinist Josh Vietti, who performed on campus during last year’s FinFest.
Doors will open at 7 p.m. Tickets went on sale in the UC Box Office on Feb. 9. Tickets are $25 for floor seats, $20 for lower seats and $15 for the higher seats. NSU students, faculty and staff can buy up to four tickets and must present their SharkCards to purchase.
SEA Board Vice President of Traditions Sasha Pimentel, junior communication studies major, said, “I think it’s just going to be exciting. Even from the reveal on Feb. 5, there was a lot of hype, and I feel like that’s going to carry on to the show.”
The concert was paid for by PAN-SGA, and the decision as to who would perform was based mostly on student input. Members of SEA Board presented surveys to students at past events and SEA Thursdays to get insight as to who the students wanted to see perform or what genre they would like for Shark Jam.
Pimentel said that the majority of the responses said that students wanted to see a hip-hop or rap artist, so they contacted agencies to find out who was both affordable and available.
“A big factor in our decision really was student input. He’s a really big artist, and everything kind of lined up in his direction,” she said.
Ashley O’Geen, sophomore psychology major, didn’t attend last year’s Shark Jam, but said that she is looking forward to seeing Lil Wayne perform for the first time.
“I’m expecting a lot of people to go out and have fun,” she said. “I feel like we might actually have some Shark pride because we have someone really fun coming out.”
Students must take their Shark Cards to the concert along with their tickets. Any guests who don’t attend NSU must be with the NSU student who purchased the tickets in order to get in. Ushers will direct students to the section that is printed on their tickets for the concert.
Bags, containers, weapons and illegal substances are prohibited from the show.
Last year’s Shark Jam featured local artists DJ Laz, DJ Luga and DJ Cato K, alongside Radio X’s DJ Baelfire. They played a variety of music genres, including reggae, hip-hop, Latin and electronic dance music. Pimentel said they did a different kind of performance last year to see if the students would respond to it better than a concert.
“We’re always trying to see what the students like best,” she said. “We tried it, and we got good responses, but we felt that it would be best to go back to one single performer [for the main talent] so we didn’t take away from the general experience of Shark Jam.”
For more information, call the Box Office at 954-262-5557
