The Run-DMC concert scheduled for Monday, November 23 has been cancelled due to lack of ticket sales, the Campus Activities Board Concert Committee announced Wednesday.

“We’re very disappointed about having to cancel the show,” said CAB Concert Committee member Michelle Czernik. “But we had only sold around 770 tickets, and we needed to sell at least 2,000 to continue with it.”

“It’s really phenomenal that the show didn’t sell out,” said committee member Gerald Joyce. “This would be the biggest band to come to NIU. Run-DMC has sold at least $4 million in records, and their profits per show after expenses is approximately $168,000. There’s no reason this concert shouldn’t have been a huge success.”

“We researched the band intensively before scheduling them,” Joyce added. “I mean, we didn’t just open a ‘Rolling Stone.’ Run-DMC is one of the biggest black crossover acts in the country.”

“If you listen to the radio, they do get played quite a lot. We called up radio stations and read reviews in a number of music magazines and newspapers. The band is both popular and critically acclaimed. All of these indicators pointed to success,” he added.

“It’s possible that students couldn’t afford the $12.50 ticket prices, although those were the lowest prices charged anywhere on their tour,” committee member Stacey Deegan said. “Another reason for the low sales might be that the concert was scheduled for a Monday night,” she added.

The CAB committee refuted the idea that the concert did not sell well due to lack of publicity. “We’ve had bands like The Police, REM, Elvis Costello, Peter Gabriel, The Psychedelic Furs and Robert Palmer play here; and in the three years I’ve been on the committee, I have never seen a show better publicized than the Run-DMC one has been,” Joyce said.

“We had radio spots on six different stations,” Czernik said. “We also advertised in Rockford, Peoria, Freeport, Sterling, Dixon and Beloit,” she added.

Those who have already purchased tickets will be able to get a full refund, Deegan said. If the tickets were bought at NIU, they will be refunded from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 3 to 6 p.m. on November 20, 23 and 24, and again at the same times November 30 through December 4. If the tickets were purchased at a Ticketmaster outlet or at Record Revolution or Appletree Records, they can be refunded at those places during regular business hours.