Rapper Rico Nasty opened her virtual performance in a leopard print hat, orange hair, Halloween decorations as a backdrop and holding a Stitch doll.
The concert on Oct. 14 started at 9 p.m. and was the second performance of the Five Night Concert and Comedy Festival. Through the platform Looped Live, the Buctainment sponsored series was meant to be a way to bring some life and excitement to the lives of students as they navigate this new learning setting.
“So we cannot do a big huge major concert in person,” said Alexia Petrak, coordinator of ETSU Student Activities and Organizations. “And we know that people are really tired of looking at a computer screen, but this is kind of the best we have as far as trying to reach more students.”
Presented by Concert Idea, students from across the United States were brought together to watch and comment on the stream, ranging from Tennessee Tech University to Central Michigan University. They could choose from a universal viewing room or an ETSU specific one.
Nasty’s setlist included songs such as “Sugar Trap” off her 2016 mixtape, a feature with 100 Gecs and collaborations like “Tia Tamera” with Doja Cat. She performed a total of 18 songs during her set before answering pre-submitted fan questions, including some from ETSU.
“If you keep putting off, ‘Oh I’m going to use this time to write’, or ‘I’ll write later’, you’re never going to write nothing,” Nasty said, in response to one question. “You should just write all the time.”
Natalie Howell, a senior at ETSU, was happy to have her question answered live as she attended the concert.
“It was super cool and high energy, even though it was streamed online,” said Howell. “I’m very thankful for ETSU putting the whole thing together for us.”
The next event of the series on Oct. 21 will be a performance by the all-female quartet The Aces, followed by talks with Jonathan Van Ness of “Queer Eye” and Chloe Fineman from “Saturday Night Live” in the coming weeks.
Petrak hopes that after an increase in attendance for the Nasty concert, students will continue to participate in the virtual events.
“This is a way for us to be able to have 200 to 300 students participate,” Petrak said. ”I think the students that have participated have enjoyed having the chat feature, even though it is not like sitting with your friends, you know, you are still interacting with people.”
