B.o.B. concert, featuring Jay Sean, dazzled audience
Minnesota State University, Mankato kicked off homecoming weekend with an amazing performance from B.o.B and special guest, Jay Sean.
Myers Field House was transformed with purple, blue, and white spotlights and fog seeping up behind the stage where a DJ played house music as people filed in. The dancefloor was soon full of people by 7 p.m.
“1,450 free student tickets sold out in less than 70 minutes,” Alex Weiland, concert committee chair for the Student Events Team said. “An additional 300 guest tickets were gone within the day.”
Over 2,000 gave off a lot of excited tension and heat as the crowd waited for the opening act to come on the stage.
Jay Sean kicked off the concert at about 7:30 p.m. He opened the night with an original song. He also DJ’d and sang another hit of his, “Down,” which definitely got the audience of students pumped up as the song no doubt reminded them of memorable, awkward, middle-school dances. He ended his performance after about an hour and quickly left the stage for B.o.B, who was waiting backstage to come on and sing to his fans.
“I’m excited to preform,” said rapper B.o.B. “You guys seem like a great audience.”
And he was totally right. The crowd reacted wildly as he performed hits like, “So Good,” “Magic”, “Both of Us,” and “Beautiful Girls.” Students threw their t-shirts and cell phones on stage for B.o.B to sign, and he even invited four MNSU students to dance on stage with him.
“College kids are the best type of audience,” B.o.B said. “You guys really know how to get someone pumped up, ya know?”he said.
B.o.B even crowd surfed and stage-dived into the crowd and the crowd was able to keep him up. He took Snapchat pictures with fans and signed more hats and t-shirts. He also signed a few odd things like someone’s crutch, a shoe, and a few bras from girls standing near the front of the stage. The students screamed at surprise in this. It definitely wasn’t something anyone was expecting and that was something that made the entire performance so memorable.
B.o.B ended the eventful night with his most popular and well-known song, “Airplanes,” which features Hayley Williams from the band Paramore. This was another song fans went wild for and it was quite a finale, with extra fog and spotlights for effect.
“It was one of the best top three concerts I’ve ever been to,” said Trevor, an MNSU student. “He was such a great performer.” He wasn’t the only one who thought so. Trevor’s friend expressed his enjoyment and said that he “would definitely see him again.”
It was great to see such positive responses to the show. Hopefully the spring concert will yield similar excitement and delight.