AA new musical invasion is set to make its way to NIU, and the Campus Activities Board hopes this one will conquer the critics.

Current rap sensation Nelly is scheduled to perform April 23 at Chick Evans Field House, and the rock group Nine Days will play the Egyptian Theatre two days later April 25.

CAB concerts coordinator Mike Brady said the concerts were possible because of the extra funding from the Student Association.

“That’s the whole reason why we booked these acts,” Brady said. “With the amount of money we had left, we wouldn’t have been able to do another big show.”

CAB received an extra $40,000 from the Student Senate on Feb. 4, which has proven to be a tremendous boost for the concerts committee. This comes after the MTV Campus Invasion Tour was, monetarily speaking, a bust with CAB spending about $80,000 and losing between $40,000 and $50,000.

However, Brady doesn’t see the same risk of losing money on these concerts, especially with Nelly.

“He has three hot singles, and he appeals to many different types of people,” Brady said. “One school sold Nelly out in three hours.”

That is a good sign for CAB, as Nelly is expected to cost between $60,000 and $65,000, and Nine Days will run CAB $20,000 to $25,000.

As far as when tickets go on sale for both concerts, Brady said the exact date is still up in the air because they want to make sure they are prepared if there is a large demand.

But ticket prices already have been set. Nelly will cost $15 for students and $20 for non-students, and Nine Days will cost $15 for students and $18 for non-students. Both prices are lower than the $20 for students and $25 for non-students for the Campus Invasion Tour featuring Wyclef Jean.

“We were going to do a higher ticket price, but we want as many students out there as possible,” Brady said.

While Nine Days has been in the works the entire year, the chance to bring Nelly to NIU just recently opened up and wasn’t confirmed until 5 p.m Wednesday.

“We were pretty lucky,” Brady said.

WIth these concerts, Brady hopes to close the academic year on a good note.

“We’ve put a lot of effort into everything we’ve done,” Brady said. “We’re setting a trend, and it’s only going to get better.”