CUAB’s Big Boi concert sees fast ticket sales

As of 6 p.m. Tuesday night, only one ticket was available for tonight’s concert in Memorial Hall, featuring hip-hop artist Big Boi.

And Temi Duro-Emanuel, chairwoman of the performing arts committee of the Carolina Union Activities Board, was pretty confident that that one ticket would be gone by the 8 p.m. curtain.

“Something about this show really turned out,” said Duro-Emanuel, whose committee helped co-sponsor the concert. “We’re all really proud of ourselves.”

Big Boi, an immensely popular hip-hop artist who forms one half of the beloved duo Outkast, inspired a considerable student response on campus.

“He’s one of those artists who you may not know right away, but Outkast has a lot of fans, and his solo album last year was really well received,” said CUAB president Tyler Mills.

Following normal CUAB procedure, tickets were released in two segments — for UNC students and for the general public — with the $10 student seats first on sale Jan. 12.

On that first day of sales, more than 900 of the total 1,434 available seats in Memorial Hall were sold, said Lauren Sacks, the Union’s assistant director of student learning.

“Obviously, $10 is a pretty good value,” Mills said.

CUAB members said they see the concert as part of their larger aim to appeal to a wide cross section of students.

“My mission with CUAB is to find a middle ground between ‘accessible’ and ‘cool,’” Mills said.

Big Boi fits that profile, Mills said.

CUAB is primarily funded by student fees.

“This is definitely a genre that we haven’t touched on this year,” said CUAB music committee chairwoman Kinsey Sullivan, whose committee co-sponsored tonight’s concert.

“We try to appeal to a lot of different audiences.”

Sullivan called the Big Boi concert Duro-Emanuel’s brain child.

“This is something Temi has been looking into for a long time,” Sullivan said. “Out of the blue, she sent an e-mail to his agent; he was available and she went for it.”

Duro-Emanuel said she is a huge fan of Big Boi.

“I’ve been a fan of Outkast since I was young,” she said. “And Big Boi’s last album was on heavy rotation on my iPod.”

The price tag for the concert — which is not yet available due to ongoing contractual and planning processes — also appealed to the committee.

“The price was a lot less than our other big concerts,” Sullivan said.

Last October’s Homecoming concert, which featured indie-rock headliners Passion Pit, cost more than $60,000.

All 4,500 available seats in Carmichael Arena were sold out for the Oct. 29 concert.

And though Memorial Hall doesn’t fit quite as many people as Carmichael Arena, CUAB members are still confident that tonight’s show will be a success.

“If everyone leaves the show and has had a great time together, I’ll be pleased,” Duro-Emanuel said. “But that’s all really what CUAB is about, anyway.”

Contact the Arts Editor at arts@dailytarheel.com.