Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj announced as official Little 500 concert

IU’s Union Board will bring multiplatinum Grammy award-winning artist Lil Wayne, upcoming rapper Nicki Minaj and the self-proclaimed “boss” himself, Rick Ross, for IU’s official Little 500 concert.

IU will be the only student-presented stop on Wayne’s “I Am Still Music Tour.” The show will take place at 7 p.m. April 12 at Assembly Hall. The event is co-sponsored by the IU Auditorium.

After reviewing surveys and the Union Board’s Facebook page, it was clear to the members what the students wanted.

“There has been a lot of chatter from students about Lil Wayne performing here,” Union Board Concert Director Lisa Wagner said. “We wanted to make sure we’re responding to the students’ needs.” 

Wagner said she and other Union Board members went to Los Angeles this summer strictly to confirm a stop on the tour produced by Live Nation and Haymon Ventures.
“We wanted to make a connection. We met with them face-to-face to show that we were really serious about making this happen,” Wagner said.

The Union Board, which has brought artists like Feist and Flaming Lips for past Little 500 performances, was looking for something different this year.

“We’ve been criticized before in the past about choosing indie or rock acts,” Wagner said. “We wanted to do something different. We wanted to reinforce the students’ confidence.”

Lil Wayne has sold more than 10 million records and is recognized for his 2008 multiplatinum album “The Carter III,” which sold more than one million records in its first week.

Nicki Minaj, an artist on Lil Wayne’s record label Young Money, recently released her debut album “Pink Friday,” which has also gone platinum. Rick Ross’ recent album, “Teflon Don,” debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200. The lineup will include opening acts Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker and DJ Mixmaster Mike.

“We haven’t had a show like this in a long time,” Wagner said. “This is a sole-arena tour stopping in Bloomington.”

Students will be able to purchase presale tickets beginning 10 a.m. Thursday for a limited time. The student price, ranging from $44.75 to $99.75, will also be available for a limited time.

Tickets go on sale to the general public beginning 10 a.m. Feb. 25, with prices ranging from $49.75 to $99.75.

Tickets can be purchased at the IU Auditorium box office and IU Assembly Hall. A lottery for the order of the purchasing line will be determined at 9:30 a.m. at each location for both student presale and general public dates.

Tickets can also be purchased on www.ticketmaster.com or at Ticketmaster ticket centers.