Every year, the Student Center Programs Council brings a musical artist to celebrate homecoming. This year, the powers that be decided Ludacris would perform, to the delight of most of Tech. Thursday, Oct. 7 was the date everyone was looking forward to. Fresh after Homecoming 2009’s Third Eye Blind and 2010 Sting Break’s OAR, many students were disappointed a more current and relevant artist was not chosen.
However, Homecoming 2010 saw campus talking with the prospect of seeing an artist with several songs currently on the radio. As many students are from the Atlanta area, an A-Town native performing at home was exciting for them.
The only problem was that the concert was on a Thursday night, nixing the prospect of finishing homework or getting enough sleep. But that did not stop the crowds from showing up an hour early. Those that showed up right at 8 p.m. could not get within a thousand feet of the stage without skillful elbows nor a conscience.
By the scheduled time the concert was supposed to start, the crowd was restless. Luda did not take the stage immediately. Unbeknownst to the students, there apparently were going to be opening acts. The first opening act, 4ize, only performed one song. They made the audience giggle on occasion, but there is a reason they have not blown up yet.
After an interlude, Rudy Currence, the second opening act, performed a few of his songs, but mostly he sang and played covers of other songs with a little twist to include Tech or an audience member. He interacted with the audience frequently and encouraged them to do the same. He even sang a whole song to a girl in the audience, Maya, using her name as a majority of the lyrics. Currence definitely has some piano skills, which exceeded his tired, smokey voice.
After Rudy Currence bowed off the stage, the audience restlessly sat through another waiting period, anxious to get to the main course. An hour after the scheduled start, Ludacris finally appeared. And the crowd went wild.
Ludacris performed many of his hit songs, both old and new, including “What’s Your Fantasy,” “Number One Spot” and “My Chick Bad.” Conspicuously absent was “Welcome to Atlanta,” but maybe that is asking for too much. Diehard fans were satiated with some deeper cuts while casual fans were also entertained with the radio-friendly singles.
Ludacris has fewer singles than features right now, which he performed, but only his own verse. He performed about one minute from many of the songs that feature a verse from him, which really just teased the audience.
While definitely a part of Ludacris’ fame, these features just do not perform very well because they are so short and part of another artist’s song. However, for every time the show dragged, a hit single would energize the crowd and reinvigorate their passion.
Overall, the show was a huge success for both the performers and the audience. There was some pent-up desire for a hip-hop artist that this concert hopefully helped fulfill. It has been a while since an artist like Ludacris has come to Tech, and Tech totally showed it is ready for more.
The performers (both announced and unannounced) entertained the crowd for over two and a half hours and seemed to enjoy every minute.
The opening acts were not exactly a welcome surprise, but the main show definitely pushed any foul memories away to leave the students and their guests elated and excited for other Homecoming activities.