Story by Mikayla Hart | Contributing Writer
Photos by Reggie Johnson Jr. | Photographer
Having been at the venue since 7 a.m., students, Aaliyah Frazier and Maja Ravlic, stood among the crowd of MTSU students and guests on the floor at the front of the barricade in great anticipation for the show.
“It’s crazy because we literally told ourselves in October, when we saw him last, that we were going to see him again this year. We manifested that, and we’re here today,” Ravlic shared.
April 27, 2022 marks one of Middle Tennessee State University’s most exciting and invigorating nights featuring Grammy-nominated rapper, Jack Harlow, with performances by The Homies, High Frequency, DJ Forrest, and DJ Drama at the Murphy Center.
The show was so highly anticipated that tickets sold out only a few hours after they were made available. Some students even camped out in the parking lot the night before the show to ensure a front-row spot.
This event was sponsored by MTSU Signature Events, a joint committee of members from Student Government Association, SPARE and McGuire Entertainment.
At 7 p.m., Breanna Beahler, concerts manager with SPARE, walked on stage to introduce High Frequency, a group of five MTSU students who opened the full night of good entertainment and better music.
“We have been working on this since last semester. Getting to see the results has paid off tremendously,” Beahler shared after the show.
To prepare the audience for Harlow, DJ Forrest, The Homies, and DJ Drama played individual sets. DJ Forrest, an MTSU alumnus, dedicated songs to major Tennessee cities such as Chattanooga, Memphis, and Nashville. The Homies played music from their latest project “Honest Living,” which features Harlow. DJ Drama came on at 8:30 p.m. to play party favorites such as Waka Flocka Flame’s “No Hands,” Sheck Wes’s “Mo Bamba,” and Kendrick Lamar’s “m.A.A.d city,” hyping up and unifying the crowd.
Between sets, students chanted “WE WANT JACK” and passed time doing “the wave” throughout the arena.
Harlow came on stage around 8:45 p.m. and was immediately engaged with the audience. After performing hits like “Nail Tech” and “WARSAW,” he made an announcement.
“I want to make eye contact with everyone in here before I leave,” he said and proceeded to take a moment to look out at the faces in the audience.
Harlow kept up the charisma, paying respects to nursing students at the show, thanking them for their service, and dedicating his song “Luv Is Dro” to the ladies.
“Songs like these are made for rooms like this,” Harlow stated after he performed “Industry Baby,” which he has a feature on with Lil Nas X. The song has over one million streams on Spotify.
Meeting the audience’s expectations, Harlow performed more of his most-streamed music including “Already Best Friends” and the song that he said changed his life, “WHATS POPPIN.”
He exceeded those expectations when he came off stage to shake hands with and greet some of the audience members.
Returning to the stage, Harlow ended his set with the number-one song in the country right now, “First Class.” Everyone in the arena sang along to the Fergie-sampled hit.
Before departing, Harlow told the audience that MTSU has been, by far, the most energetic college he’s been to this year.
After the show, nursing students at MTSU, Brittany Baker and Olivia Dickerson, shared their takeaway.
“It was so good. I literally lost my voice because I was screaming the whole time,” Dickerson said.
“I really enjoyed how he interacted with the audience and how he made each and every one of us feel like he was connecting with us,” Baker added.
To contact Lifestyles Editor Ethan Pickering, email [email protected].
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