Cultural Opportunity

Recently there was a concert in the hub with The Maine, and Mayday Parade.  My friend and I are big fans of Mayday Parade so naturally we had to attend, especially since it was a free concert for Penn State students. After waiting in line for a few hours we went in, the room was very large with a stage set up against the far wall. Like most concerts I have been to it was dark inside and everyone was gathered around the stage eager for the show to start. Once inside we found some more of our friends and fought our way to the front of the stage.

 It started with The Maine followed by Mayday Parade.  The Maine could have been better, they had low energy and so did the crowd. Everyone just stood and watched, asides from the one drunk super fan, and The Maine didn’t seem happy about that and did point it out a few times. They did however, tell some funny stories from their trip that got some laughs from the crowd, such as some trips to down town State College and got a lot of cheers when they kept saying how they loved Penn State. They were the opening act and should have done a much better job hyping up the crowd, but were still somewhat entertaining.

When Mayday Parade took the stage the energy completely changed. They started out with one of their popular ballads and then moved into another one of their popular songs. They had a lot of energy on stage and immediately the entire audience was singing along and dancing. The front man Derek made a few comments about how he loved to visit Penn State and kept thanking the crowd for knowing all the words to their songs.

 

The audience was all college students and it was a very enjoyable atmosphere.  A large guy next to me was screaming like a little girl the entire time and even happily stated he was “a total fan girl”. It was such an exciting experience that when the band was done playing the crowd chanted until they came back out for another song. I have been to events like this one and it surpassed my expectations. My friend said “It was a great experience, the crowd was completely connected to the band and it was a great time!” If there is ever an opportunity like this again I wouldn’t pass it up for anything!