Kaysey Price / Winonan
A lot goes on behind the scenes of a concert, which the average crowd member may not be aware of. The stage, the lights, the production – it all adds up to create a show for the attendees.
SoMo rocked the McCown Gymnasium Saturday, March 19, and the show was no exception – it was a performance, after all.
Before SoMo could take the stage, UPAC had to set it up. In fact, they began stage set up the day before the concert at 4 p.m. The crew was back at 8:30 a.m. Saturday setting up the rest – lights, sound, dressing rooms, etc. Not to mention putting tape on the gym floor so it would not get scuffed.
UPAC’s job did not end when the lights went down and the concert began. While the guests were enjoying the show, the UPAC crew was running around with the event staff, security and police, making sure everything was running smoothly. Only taking a break to take a few pictures up front while the artists sang.
The artists, in turn, did their best to put on a good show. Dev, the opening act, took the stage and immediately amped up the energy with her bass-heavy songs. Screams fell over the crowd when she began singing “Like a G6.”
While Dev was a last-minute replacement for R. City, her performance provided a unique opportunity for Winona State student Broc Fulmer, who served as the replacement DJ for Dev.
Sporadically, concert-goers were being pulled over the front rail by security. An event staff member said it was due to crowding and overheating.
At least 21 attendees were pulled over the railing, most of which happened during Dev’s performance.
During the time delay before SoMo took the stage, a number of empty syringes were found on the floor beneath the crowd.
The police were called over, and they took the issue very seriously, putting on rubber gloves until they realized there were no needles attached to them.
“I think they were a joke. They were full of booze. It is what it is,” an event staff member commented.
When SoMo eventually took the stage, a certain stillness seemed to fall over the crowd.
“It’s amazing [the attendees] are being a little bit better behaved right now,” one event staff member said during the beginning of SoMo’s performance.
While the slower songs provided a change of pace, some attendees complained they were too slow and the energy Dev had created was dampened.
Things especially heated up a few times during the performance. A concert-goer threw a bra on stage, and SoMo brought a girl from the crowd on stage, sat her on a stool and sang to her while grinding his hips.
He then proceeded to take her hand and lead her behind the stage, so no one could see them.
This not only created an air of mystery for the crowd, it put a scowl on the faces of the four girls wearing tight jeans and belly shirts, who were “allowed back stage without passes” as one event staff member put it.
For all those concert-goers who were curious about what was happening backstage, or maybe just genuinely worried for the girl’s safety: they barely interacted at all.
The two of them took a few photos together and the girl proceeded to type on her phone, while SoMo periodically poked his head around the back of the stage, taking cues from his crew, waiting to retake the stage.
To finish off the performance, SoMo ended with his hit “Ride.”
The night concluded with SoMo taking his shirt off and throwing open water bottles and his shirt into the departing crowd for UPAC to clean up.
