Students impatiently waited outside the Mini-Dome on Wednesday night for the All-American Rejects to finish their sound check. Some students waited outside for almost three hours so that they could get a good seat once inside.
“They’re definitely my favorite band ever,” said Farrah Fritz. Fritz and her friends JJ McCullough, and Kevin Miller were the first people in line to get in the doors. They showed up at 3:30 p.m., and the doors did not open until after 7 p.m. “I want to be in the front row,” said Fritz. On Tuesday night, they got to meet the band at Buck’s Pizza.
Once the doors opened, the shivering students piled inside and waited some more. The Upwelling, the opening band, took the stage and delivered a performance that did not seem to thrill the audience.
“It was a good band, but I couldn’t hear the lyrics,” said Steven McAward. Still, a group of about 40 students gathered by the stage and showed their support for the band.
After The Upwelling finished their performance, the students waited another 40 minutes before the All-American Rejects took the stage. Their opening song was “Dirty Little Secret,” a song nearly everyone knew and sang along with. The audience was on their feet throughout the majority of the performance, with a large crowd around the base of the stage holding up camera phones and screaming out the lyrics to every song.
The Rejects mentioned going to Buck’s Pizza the night before, a comment that received a large response from the audience. Ritter, unlike many performers, showed a lot of knowledge about the area in which he was performing.
Hannah Bibee, a senior at ETSU, has not attended any of the SGA’s events until this concert. “We were excited about them coming,” she said, while sitting next to her sister, freshman Katie Bibee. “I didn’t want to miss one of these [concerts] before I graduated.”
Students Meghan Stout and Danielle Heaton wore homemade t-shirts displaying their love for the All American Rejects, and especially for the lead singer, Tyson Ritter. “We’ve been planning on making t-shirts for 3 weeks now,” Stout said. The girls stood in line for about an hour and a half, but this did not keep them from being excited about the concert.
Other students just went because it was a free concert. “The band isn’t really my favorite,” said Will Kincaid. This sentiment was expressed many times throughout the night, but there seemed to be an even larger number of students who were excited about the Rejects concert.
“I did not expect him to be that funny. He is so entertaining,” said McCullough.
“It was awesome, and he winked at me,” said Fritz.
ETSU senior Michelle Barnes said, “I loved it. I thought it was great.”
Barnes seemed happy with the decision to bring the Rejects to ETSU.
“I usually vote for rock or alternative. I like them a lot better than country,” she said.
The concert ended around 10:30 p.m. with the crowd taking pictures near the stage during the final song.

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