Tuesday night the UCF arena held a concert that should surely go down in the record books.
Not many college campuses can say they had two major headliners perform a sold out show at their school. But what made this show even more unique was that the headliners were from two totally different genres of music: hip-hop and techno.
Yes, the forces of Kendrick Lamar and Steve Aoki stormed the stage Tuesday night and performed one of the most lively shows UCF has ever seen. Orlando was the first stop on Lamar and Aoki’s US College Bus Tour, and I’d say UCF definitely helped them kick it off right. Hundreds of fans were lined up outside of the arena hours before they opened its doors in hopes of being one of the first five hundred people to get floor access.
Soon after the doors were opened, thousands of people started flooding the arena. Almost every seat was filled with fans excited for what was sure to be an amazing night.
First to take the stage was Kendrick Lamar, and he did an outstanding job opening the show. He began his set by asking who from the crowd had been following him since day one, and you could see hundreds of fans in the crowd cheering and throwing up their hands. Lots of fans even held signs with his name and some of his lyrics. He performed songs that originally had put him on the map, and songs that are popular today such as “Swimming Pools” and “Poetic Justice”.
Throughout his performance you could see fans dancing and rocking from everywhere in the crowd. After leaving the stage and coming back to perform one last encore song, he left the audience with some grateful words. He ended his set by promising that he would always come back to Orlando because of the amazing love he received at UCF.
That was one of the biggest things that stuck out to me from that entire night.
Once Kendrick Lamar was finished killing the stage, it didn’t take long for Steve Aoki to come out ready to please the crowd. But really, this guy is a major crowd pleaser. Throughout his entire set he was constantly throwing waters and drinks into the crowd, making them go crazy. He began his set with some new songs many fans hadn’t heard before but then transitioned into some of his popular stuff.
At one point during the show, I slowly turned around to get a full view of the arena. I was truly amazed by how much energy and excitement I saw. From the people dancing on the floor to fans jumping in their seats, the entire arena just came to life. The energy was at a constant high throughout his entire set, which lasted over an hour. But anyone who has been to an Aoki show before knows that he always does one thing in particular during his sets.
Steve Aoki always throws a cake at his fans in the crowd, and the UCF audience was fortunate enough to have three cakes thrown at it. It seems crazy to want to have a cake thrown at you, but fans were begging and pushing to have a cake thrown at them by this guy. He also sent multiple fans floating through the crowd in large inflatable rafts throughout his set, and he even got in one himself and sprayed the audience with champagne. I thought his wackiness really brought the crowd together and made his performance so much more fun.
What I also thought was really cool was that he brought Kendrick Lamar back out at the end of his set. They performed a collaboration together, and you could tell the fans really enjoyed the camaraderie. Between the techno beats, the bright lights, and Aoki’s crazy stage antics, this was definitely one of the coolest performances I have ever witnessed.
Looking back on the performances that night, I’m not surprised the arena sold out over 8,000 seats. That was one of the most lively and enjoyable concerts I’ve been to at UCF, and apparently Steve Aoki thought it was just as fun. The next day he posted a picture of the UCF crowd on his twitter page, tweeting “First show with @KendrickLamar on this tour was insane! #orlando #ucfragers”.
It’s great to know that the performers enjoyed us just as much as we enjoyed them.
