University News

American Idol Winner to Rock Out at WIU

February 2, 2009

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MACOMB, IL – David Cook, the 2008 American Idol winner, will kick off his first solo tour – "The Declaration Tour" – with a series of concerts this spring, including an April 14 stop at Western Illinois University's Macomb campus.

Cook will appear at 37 colleges and universities across the U.S. Cook's WIU concert will be held in the University Union Heritage Room. According to Diane Cumbie, assistant director of Student Activities, Western's University Union Board (UUB), a student-run event planning organization tasked to plan events for WIU students, recently received the news that Western was selected as one of the 37 stops. Tickets, $20, will go on sale – for WIU students only – beginning Monday, March 2.

Cumbie explained that due to the smaller venue – which is a contractual obligation set by the Cook tour – students are limited to purchasing two tickets. Any remaining tickets will be available to faculty and staff beginning Monday, March 9, and to the general public Tuesday, March 10 if the venue has not sold out. Faculty and staff tickets will be sold for $20 each, while general public admission will be $25. There is a maximum purchase of two tickets each. There will be a $3 service charge for all tickets.

Tickets will be available at the Hainline Theater box office from noon to 5 p.m. weekdays.

Cook entered the Billboard charts at number three with his self-titled album, which also debuted as the number one album on the digital album chart and is the best debut from an American Idol winner since 2006. The first single, "Light On," dominated the AOL Top 40 radio chart with eight weeks in the number one slot. In late September "Light On" premiered on AOL Music's pop culture news site, PopEater.com, receiving more than one million plays in less than week.

Rolling Stone Magazine deemed Cook "the most imaginative American Idol talent to date."

"I'm more than excited to hop on the road and support this record. This tour represents both a new beginning and a return to form for me," said Cook. "It's our first full tour, and we're all ready to pour whatever blood, sweat, and tears that we can muster into making this show, and every show from here on out, an experience. Part of that experience is bringing back this college tour idea. There's something inherently nostalgic about playing college shows. So many amazing acts used to do it, so it's nice to be able to bring that ideal back, in some small way."

Cook's first single, "The Time of My Life," recently went platinum with more than one million tracks sold.


Posted By: Darcie Shinberger (U-Communications@wiu.edu)
Office of University Communications & Marketing