After returning from vacation, Penn State students celebrated the end of the first week of the spring semester by attending singer-songwriter Dominic Fike’s highly anticipated concert.
The Penn State Student Programming Association announced the free concert as the main event of the organization’s annual SPA Day at Penn State’s HUB-Robeson Center.
Fike is an African-American and Filipino artist, raised in Naples, Florida, who first gained popularity with his EP of demos he recorded while serving time in prison. Since then, he has notoriously gained popularity among young people and is also a new cast member of the popular TV series “Euphoria”.
Penn State students lined up to enter as they excitedly waited to see the ‘Euphoria’ star perform.
“I’m super excited for tonight,” said Jeryx De Guzman. “I love Dominic Fike.”
Penn States SPA is hosting a Dominic Fike concert for Penn State students at Alumni Hall at the HUB-Robeson Center on Friday, January 14, 2022 in University Park, Pennsylvania.
Guzman (Communication Disorders and Science student) said his favorite songs are “Double Negative” and “Vampire”.
“I’m super excited to see his setlist,” Guzman said. “He has two albums now, and it’s interesting to see how he’s going to work with this amount of material.”
The show opened with a Penn State employee enforcing the mask policy as the crowd eagerly waited for the “3 Nights” singer to begin his performance.
Fike took the stage in a gray and black long-sleeved t-shirt paired with cargo pants and Chuck Taylors and opened the set with his song “Why.”
Fike amplified the crowd by doing the “We Are, Penn State” chant and engaging in school spirit.
The stage and lighting design created a welcoming and comforting ambiance, which enhanced the visual experience of Fike’s set.
The band shone at this gig with solid bass lines from bassist Sean, guitar riffs from guitarist Rex and pumping beats that got the crowd moving from drummer James.
Fike showed off his guitar skills on his Fender American Pro Stratocaster II in the song “Kiss the Venus”. The recorded version of the song features Sir Paul McCartney.
The crowd particularly enjoyed his hits “Babydoll” and “Phone Numbers”. The set was filled with a mix of pop-rock, rap and electronic music.
Fike expressed to the crowd that this concert was special as it was his first in-person college concert.
Penn States SPA is hosting a Dominic Fike concert for Penn State students at Alumni Hall at the HUB-Robeson Center on Friday, January 14, 2022 in University Park, Pennsylvania.
He ended the concert with his first single “3 Nights”, which peaked in the top 10 of the charts in several countries.
This set’s guitar solos and riffs stole the show.
“I’ve been playing guitar for 16 years, started when I was 4,” said Fike guitarist Rex. “My favorite thing about being on stage is being free. I feed off of [crowd’s] energy… We feed on you, you feed on us. We reciprocate.
SPA events director Paulina Rodriguez said the show got a pretty good response from students getting tickets.
“It was worth spending all that time planning this concert which the students seemed to enjoy,” said Rodriguez (public relations manager). “My favorite part of the concert was seeing all the fans singing his songs. It’s really exciting to see the crowd respond to the singer and to see that we made a good choice about who we bring for SPA day.”
SPA general manager Grace Puy said she loved seeing the excitement of the students in the crowd.
“I loved seeing all the outfits everyone wore tonight, and seeing Dom was really awesome,” Puy (senior publicity) said.
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