The walls of the Fine Arts Center were lined with anxious people while Student Government Association members prepared themselves for the doors to open promptly at 9 p.m.Students filed in throughout the hour, displaying the tickets they had received a week in advance, leaving very few empty seats in an auditorium that was filled with an undeniable energy.
As the clock struck ten, students flooded the stage with applause, and chants of “Sammy. Sammy. Sammy.”
Finally, it was time.
From the moment that word leaked that Sammy Adams was coming to Castleton, students could hardly contain their excitement. Comments piled up on junior Bart Kallgren’s Facebook status the moment he leaked word of the concert, expressing immense interest in the event. And as the concert day approached, the excitement only grew. Students walked around campus discussing plans to be the first in line for tickets, or how they would meet the infamous Sammy Adams.
“[From the very beginning] students were excited,” said Kallgren, the SGA Vice President. “There was even a lot of response that Friday before the concert. Kids wanted to know what exactly was going on, asking questions like ‘can we bring friends, etc.'” he said. “Students were pumped.”
The concert, which took place on Sept. 3, was open to Castleton students only and featured the 23-year-old rapper whose full name is Samuel Adams Wisner.
“The concert was offered for free, and since students had already paid the activity fee, we decided it wouldn’t be fair for students outside to come and take Castleton Students’ spots,” said Kallgren. “And we didn’t want to do it in the gym because it would have been about three times as much with the extra prices of lights, staging and atomic crew, which is a renting agency in Rutland,” he explained.
This decision paid off as the auditorium was only four or five people below fire code.
“It was cool and very upbeat. It was very energetic and a great atmosphere,” said senior Meryssa Wacholder, who was required to attend the concert for a class. “I had never listened to him before the concert, and I have been listening to him with my roommate, and he’s actually pretty good.”
Sophomore Kelly Tetreault agreed.
“I only knew ‘I love College’ and ‘Driving me crazy,’ but it was all really good,” said sophomore Kelly Tetreault.
Fans and non-fans alike attended the concert, and were very enthusiastic even for opening act G-Curtis. Once Adams took the stage, though, it went to a new level that Adams was able to feed off of.
“Yeah it was dope, great energy,” Adams said after the show. “[Castleton] was a lot of fun, you know anywhere we perform when people know the music and people are nice and faded and like to have fun, it’s good” he said.
Adams emerged as a rapper while completing a Political Science major at Trinity College in Connecticut while also carrying the responsibility of being captain of their power-house soccer team.
“It was really hard to balance it, especially with soccer and everything. Basically it was like, you have to make sacrifices,” he said. “I had some cool-ass teachers. I picked my teachers pretty well. I mean, though, in terms of doing a 28-day tour while you are in semester is pretty ridiculous.”
And, in the midst of all this, he was still able to debut at number one on I-tunes in May for his hit “Boston’s Boy.”
His most popular song, though, and the one that resonates most among college students, is “I Love College,” which he “wrote in his room while smoking blunts.”
“The one that’s out right now,” said Adams, “the one that’s released, was the one that was recorded in my room. Someone actually ripped it off my computer and put it on You Tube and I didn’t know. The next time I checked it was like 12,000 views.”
Although the show lasted only an hour, Adams performed a plethora of music, both new and old, keeping the crowed pleased for the entirety.
“This was really cool because it was all student run.”This was just one of those things that you aren’t going to get at another venue, only at our college,” said Kallgren.