Masynn Acheson reporter
Friday, Oct. 18, the Homecoming Committee hosted a brand-new event to welcome in the Homecoming Game. For the first time ever, Gorilla Village hosted a Homecoming Concert. There were two opening groups: Ty Ellis and the Flatliners, and Cam Allen before the headliner Austin Meade.
The event lasted from 8:30 p.m. until 11:30 p.m. outside in Gorilla Village behind Carnie Smith Stadium. Ty Ellis and the Flatliners were primarily playing country music. They’re a local group based in Pittsburg, KS, and have performed at numerous bars and locations in or around town. Next to play was Cam Allen, a native of Oklahoma and a former contestant on American Idol. His group played a mix of country and rock.
Both groups had a good rhythm and beat to most of their songs, enough that to a good number of them, several students paired up and were swing dancing, a few being Haley Schoeling, Eli Parsons, Leticia Juang, and Dillon Leggett. Dillon Leggett and Eli Parsons are both freshman business management and finance majors, while Haley Shoeling is a freshman English major. Leticia Juang, is a Brazilian exchange student studying journalism/communications and came with a larger group of exchange students. Dillon, Eli, and Haley are part of a larger group that goes out to the bars in town that accept people 18 and up to swing dance, line dance, and overall socialize. It started with just Dillon and Haley dancing together for one of the songs, and after that even more people joined in to dance.
Austin Meade went on stage last and the crowd got to rock out for an hour after coming on stage around 10:30 p.m. There were several students in the crowd who were head banging or pumping their fists in the air. Throughout the event, there were two food trucks and three tents set up in case someone wanted to purchase the merchandise for one or all of the groups performing. Alongside the food trucks and merch tents, there was a section for people 21 and over to drink any alcoholic beverages they purchased while in the “Beer Garden” as they were calling it.
The main attraction for most everyone there was the ability to go to a concert on campus for free as students and go with your friends to rock out to some good music. Leticia Juang cited this as her main reason for wanting to go, as she is wanting to experience all she can while here in the States and also loves rock music. Even though it was exceptionally cold out later into the night, everyone was having a blast and would probably agree that the event should be added to the Homecoming events tradition hosted by Pittsburg State University Homecoming Committee.