Filling up the Civic Center arena to almost maximum capacity may be hard, but not impossible, especially when the right people are invited.
On Friday night, Ludacris, Chingy and Lil’ Jon and the Eastside Boys performed at The Big Show homecoming concert hosted by the Student Government Association.
Showtime began at 8 pm with opening acts from local talent and R&B singer Glenn Lewis. Within that same hour Lil’ Jon and the Eastside Boys stomped on stage proving they were the rightful “kings of crunk”.
Whether members of the audience were standing on their seats, on the floor or on each other’s back, the crowd was egging the southern rap group on for more. The less than timid group went ahead and gave the audience what they were asking for by performing club hits like their current billboard landing single “Get Low”. Lil’ Jon asked the audience to join in as he rapped the lyrics to the song.
“To the windowww, to the walllll…” shouted the audience while they pointed their hands from right to left, “get low, get low, get low.”
Next on stage was rap artist Chingy. Security had to control fanatic females while they stretched their hands towards the stage and screamed Chingy’s name for most of the new artist’s set. Although Chingy is not a Rattler, that didn’t stop him from wearing an orange and green FAMU jersey.
“What’s up FAMU,” Chingy shouted. “I got my orange and green, so ya’ll make some noise!”
Chingy performed most of the songs on his recent album but really got the audience moving with his hit single, “Right Thurr”.
“How many of ya’ll know how to do the dance,” Chingy asked.
Immediately throngs of people began imitating the chickenhead dance seen in the video.
By the time Ludacris hit the stage, the once energized crowd was beginning to settle down. Ludacris got everybody back on their feet with his new single “Stand Up!” which features former Distubing the Peace member, Shawna. The Chicago native continued to keep the crowd’s attention by spitting impressively speedy lyrics that had the audience in awe of her rapping skills. With mike in hand and his DTP crew behind him, Ludacris proved that he had something to say.
The show ended with all of the acts minus Lil’ Jon and the Eastside Boys coming out to perform Chingy’s latest single, “Holidae Inn”.
Around 11:30 pm, exhausted fans began exiting the building; some with sore feet and others with hoarse voices. Most members of the audience were pleased with the concert.
“I loved everything,” said Dana Bushell, 21, a nursing student from Palm Beach.
Bushell admitted that although her favorite part of the show was watching Ludacris perform, it was another thing that impressed her the most, “everybody (the performers) was on time.”
Keisha Watson, 19, a student who made the trek from Pensacola Junior College said she didn’t mind the three-hour drive to Tallahassee for the concert.
“I enjoyed myself,” Watson said. “If they have another one like this next year then I will be back again.”