It was almost empty when we arrived; a few Danny Brown fans lurked near the stage, identified by their shirts, and a handful of people remained seated while waiting for the show to start. I was almost worried: I considered for a moment how bad I would feel for both the artists and the organizers if nobody else showed up. Fortunately, I did not have to consider long.
Ship of Fools came out first, just as the lights went down. I had heard of the band before, but never listened to them; I certainly will be now.
The cello wasn’t something I expected, but it fit incredibly well with the group’s sound. The cellist himself was extremely talented, as was everyone on stage. The vocalist was so energetic, and while I’m usually the terrible kind of person to be on their phone during a concert, I never felt the need to look away from the stage. By the time they finished their set, there seemed to be three times as many people in the crowd as there had been before.
During the intermission before Danny Brown came on, the Cane’s employees working their tent passed out styrofoam light-up sticks, and student government gave away glow sticks by the armful.
More people drifted in, and a DJ took the stage and did an excellent job keeping the crowd occupied while they waited.
Danny Brown was on earlier than I expected, and he moved through his setlist with hardly a pause. I was pretty astonished he had the breath to move around or to interact with the crowd as much as he did–the big screen behind the stage was also a nice touch, because by then, the crowd had grown to almost twice what it was during Ship of Fools, and I’m sure there were plenty of short people like myself who wouldn’t have been able to see otherwise.
With the reactions from the crowd and the energy on stage, student government made great selections for this year’s show, and the artists seemed genuinely excited to be there. It was a great LSU experience.
