By Luminescent glow sticks batted at the smoke of the dimly lit arena. All eyes and ears fell on a tall figure standing center stage caressing an electric guitar.
“For those who don’t know, my name is Miguel,” the voice casually announced, triggering an eruption of screams from all corners of California State University, Long Beach’s Walter Pyramid on Friday.
Hosted by CSULB’s Associated Student, Inc., Friday’s concert featuring R&B polymath Miguel and Washington D.C.-based rapper Wale generated a strong social media buzz within the college community.
“I think [ASI’s] just waiting to see the outcome of what this [concert] is in order to see if there will be future events,” Mariana Castellanos, a sophomore social work student at CSULB said. “I really hope they do it again before I graduate.”
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ASI President Joe Phillips explained that the delay in concerts in the past was due to contract issues and touches on where the funding for the spring concert came from.
“We used part of [the ASI referendum] money towards [this] huge event,” Phillips said. “[ASI] had been working on this for nine months or so, and we’re really glad we got Wale and Miguel.”
When 7 p.m. arrived and a majority of the seats were filled, people looked around the room hoping that something spectacular and spontaneous would occur, but the stars of the show were nowhere to be found.
Michael Ares
CSULB students hold glow sticks in the air in anticipation for the concert to begin.
Hype-man Ray successfully held the audiences’ attention span for about an hour. A twerk competition got audience members off their feet, but the excitement became stale about a half hour into the booty battle.
“Initially, I felt like I was really hyped about the concert for thirty minutes,” said Allison Miller, a resident of Long Beach who attended the event. “But once it got past a certain time, I could tell they were using it as a last minute thing to mask the fact that we had been waiting for an hour and a half.”
A familiar, amplified voice echoed from the stadium speakers.
“Is this what they’re waiting for?” Wale, the concert opener, said, awakening fans from their slumber as they squeezed closer to the barricade. “Everybody get up so we can f-king turn up!”
From free styling and rapping the old and the new to getting on the drums, Wale performed a nonstop, 30-minute set and was warmly received by the audience who begged for an encore.
Adorning a black-fringed leather jacket with a white top and pants ensemble, Miguel challenged the scarlet lighting for the spotlight.
The sex-exuding soulful pop star performed hit songs like “How Many Drinks,” “Sure Things” and even teased fans with an acapella start to “Pussy is Mine,” leaving the crowd feeling some “type of way” as they sang along and swayed.
But it wasn’t just the baby-making music and sexual innuendos that caught the attention of the crowd. Miguel also performed “Lotus Flower Bomb” with Wale, who came out for the second time.
“At that point, it was amazing,” Tatyana Forbes, a second year fashion design major said. “Wale initially teased us with the beginning of “Lotus Flower Bomb” and Miguel came through.”
Miguel ended his set by dancing, doing the splits and spitting water in the crowd, flinging front row fans into a Miguel-crazed frenzy.
“[Wale and Miguel] put on a great show,” Evan Brown, a third year mechanical engineering major at CSULB said after the show. “It was clear that they put their heart and soul into it all.”
