University Union : UK rapper Tinie Tempah to open for Kid Cudi, Nas, Damian Marley
English rapper and songwriter Tinie Tempah will open for Kid Cudi, Nas and Damian Marley at Block Party on April 29, University Union officials announced Monday. The annual spring concert will be held in Syracuse University’s Carrier Dome at 7 p.m.
‘Tinie Tempah is an emerging artist and will give a high-energy performance,’ said Harry Roberts, director of UU concerts. ‘He’s huge overseas and is definitely making his push in the U.S.’
Tempah earned two Brit Music Awards this year: the Best Breakout Artist award and the Best Single award for the song ‘Pass Out.’ His second single, ‘Written in the Stars,’ reached No. 1 in the United Kingdom and is currently rising on American music charts, Roberts said. As of Monday, the song reached No. 27 on the iTunes music chart. Tempah performed at South by Southwest last weekend and will play at popular music festivals Ultra and the Coachella Valley Music Festival.
Tickets for Block Party are on sale for $15 at the Carrier Dome Box Office and the Schine Box Office with a valid SU and State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry ID. Tickets for the general public are also available at the Carrier Dome Box Office and through Ticketmaster for $25. Online presale tickets must be picked up from the Carrier Dome Box Office on April 13 between 7:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. or on April 14 and 15 between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.
Roberts encourages students to buy tickets as soon as possible, as just a fraction of them remain. Tickets were available exclusively for students on the Ticketmaster website earlier this month. During the first week of the online presale, 8,848 tickets were sold, he said, and sales have broken last year’s Block Party ticket records.
‘Ticket sales have far exceeded expectations,’ Roberts said. ‘We sold more tickets in the first eight days than Drake did total.’
Tempah crosses over many genres, including electronic and hip-hop, Roberts said. Given his increasing popularity, he’ll be more familiar to students as opposed to last year’s opener, K-Os, who was lesser known, he said.
‘People will be really curious to see what he’s about, and he appeals to a lot of different music tastes,’ Roberts said. ‘By the time our show comes around, he’ll be well recognized all over.’
Published on March 21, 2011 at 12:00 pm
