Flattery can get you far — especially if you’re a pop star speaking to thousands of fans at Ohio University.
With a call of, “Sexy Bobcat ladies, who’s ready to party?” opening act Far East Movement jump-started Friday’s show at The Convo, sending the crowd into a frenzy and setting the stage for an energetic night.
Rapper B.o.B headlined the concert, The Convo’s first since October 2003 but certainly not the last, said Andrew Holzaepfel, associate director of the Campus Involvement Center and booking agent for the Performing Arts Series.
“We have been overwhelmed by the positive responses we have received from OU students,” Holzaepfel said. “We will regroup and look at what went well and what could be improved, and hopefully this will become at least an annual event.”
Holzaepfel, who said about 2,900 tickets were sold, also attributed much of the event’s success to the sponsoring organizations: The Student Activities Commission, Division of Student Affairs, University Program Council, National Pan-Hellenic Council and Black Student Cultural Programming Board.
However, for B.o.B, born Bobby Ray Simmons Jr., the “initial roar from the crowd” and the fans’ reactions made the show a success for him, he said.
“The crowd is the number one judge,” he said after the concert. “They decide and determine how they respond to the show. It was hands down just one of the best.”
With a full backing band, B.o.B sang, rapped and even played guitar through hits such as “Nothin’ on You,” “Don’t Let Me Fall” and “Magic,” tossing in a few compliments to Athens’ “beautiful girls.” He also surprised the crowd with a cover of his “favorite song of 2010” — MGMT’s electropop anthem “Kids.”
“When I think about MGMT as a band, I just get every song title and I get every lyric,” B.o.B said. “It just makes sense.”
Earlier in the night, Far East Movement got the crowd excited for B.o.B, though the band members admittedly had “those butterflies in our stomachs,” emcee James “Prohgress” Roh said after his group’s performance.
“The Bobcats were definitely representing today,” he said. “… We asked them, ‘Who’s feeling fly like a G6?’ and we heard the response and they just kept rocking with us the whole way through.”
Dressed in sneakers, ties and suspenders — “a little bit of nice with a little bit of grime,” said Kevin “Kev Nish” Nishimura — the emcees jumped up and down through the entirety of their performance, including during hits “Like a G6” and “Rocketeer.”
“We started out doing shows for literally five people,” Nishimura said. “… When you go from that and you go to here you have to give it your all, you have to.”
For many, the show started even before Far East Movement took the stage, thanks to beats spun by Dave Rave and one of B.o.B’s super-fans dancing wildly near the floor seats, eliciting cheers and applause from the crowd.
Originally from New Jersey, amateur singer and dancer Aly Rei travels across the country “trying to make my dream happen,” she said.
“I think B.o.B is one of the greatest rappers of our time,” she said. “He has such a positive message, and he makes people feel beautiful.”
During his encore, B.o.B pulled Rei and a few other fans onstage to dance alongside him. Afterward, with a look of shock on her face, Rei said the show was everything she could have hoped for.
“It was probably the best thing that ever happened to me in my lifetime,” she said. “It was probably — no, most definitely — the best show I’ve ever been to.”
al106606@ohiou.edu
@ThePostCulture
