A couple of weeks ago Jack Johnson came to Penn State to do
a free concert for Rock The Vote accompanied by G. Love and ALO. All day there were Rock The Vote tents set up
outside Eisenhower Auditorium and volunteers running around trying to persuade
people to register to vote. Their
incentive: getting to go to a free concert!
The second I heard about this I was in.
I’m not going to lie to you and say that I’m Jack Johnson’s number one
fan, but I’ve always enjoyed chilling out listening to some of his smooth,
mellow tunes. I was definitely expecting
an amazing concert, but the experience I had was so much more. Jack played for two hours straight, which is
INSANE! I’ve been to a lot of concerts
in my day and never have I been to one with such a long set list, AND IT WAS
FREE! Even the opening acts were
incredible. Before last Wednesday, I had
never heard of G. Love or ALO, but they both killed it on stage. The audience was going crazy, and the lead
singer of ALO even got a WE ARE PENN STATE chant going. (G. Love later followed me on twitter,
nbd). Jack opened with Where’d All The Good People Go, and
everyone was on their feet, dancing and singing along. It was an incredible atmosphere. After only being in college for a few weeks
at that point, it was cool to feel connected to so many of my peers through
something as powerful as music. For the
last few songs he performed, he invited G. Love and ALO back on stage to
perform with him. The energy was
phenomenal. They all connected and
performed together so well you would think that they had been touring together
for years.
The cause was awesome as well. I am a huge believer that everyone who can
vote should vote. So many people think
that their voice doesn’t matter. One
vote may not seem like much, but if it gets to being hundreds or thousands of
people who think that way, that does matter.
It’s always inspiring when people as busy and famous as Jack Johnson
take the time to support something as important as this.
By the end of the night, I was in love with this man. He had such an incredible stage personality,
telling us stories about how he met his wife and interesting tidbits about why he
wrote some of his songs. Every time
someone from the crowd would scream out “I LOVE YOU” he would laugh and
respond, “I love you too man!” There was
definitely a strong connection between the stage and the audience. I’m thrilled that I had this experience; this
is a night I will remember for a very long time.
No comments:
Post a Comment