The Vandament Arena was filled with shouts of “Rodney, Rodney, Rodney,” on Thursday, Oct. 24, moments before Rodney Atkins stepped on stage.

He performed to a sold-out audience of 1,500, according to Northern Arts and Entertainment (NAE) member BreAnna Trail, a sophomore special education major.In the first two-and-a-half days that the tickets were on sale, 370 tickets were sold. Tickets were also being sold at the door.

Trail said the show was a success, despite the crowd.

“That was one thing that wasn’t the greatest,” Trail said. “The crowd was rowdy and drunk.”She said they had lighters going and brought cameras in, which wasn’t allowed by Atkins’ group. She added that people were getting on each other’s shoulders and security repeatedly had to tell them to get down.

Trail said NAE members got to meet with Frankie Ballard and Atkins. She said she enjoyed meeting both of them.“Rodney was super funny and nice,” Trail said. “Down-to-earth.”Atkins also met with members of his fan club and Rose Falcon also met with fans.

Shannon Flynn, a freshman athletic training major, attended her first concert at NMU.“I thought it was really good,” Flynn said. “I knew almost all the songs [Atkins] played, which was fun.”

Atkins performed some of his famous songs, including “Take A Back Road,” Farmer’s Daughter” and “These Are My People,” during which images of NMU and NMU students were displayed on the screen behind him. Two musicians from the band also had a musical “battle,” where they each played snippets of famous songs, before the drummer took over and started “Watching You.”

Flynn also said she enjoyed the opening acts.“I had never heard of Rose Falcon, but I really liked her music,” Flynn said. “I had heard of Frankie Ballard, but didn’t remember his songs, so that was cool listening to his music again.”

Falcon performed a variety of songs, including a song about an ex-boyfriend, “New Tattoo,” and Johnny Cash’s “Walk the Line.” Ballard, raised in Battle Creek, Mich., played a song about the town called “Don’t Take Much.” Both Falcon and Ballard performed one song each with Atkins.

Flynn also agreed with Trail about the crowd.“Some people were funny, but some were out of control,” Flynn said.

Students interested

in participating in future NAE events can attend meetings at 8:30 p.m. Monday in the Back Room of the University Center. Questions can be emailed to NAE president, Brittany Craighead, at [email protected].