Story by Nicole Dohm
On Friday, Oct. 4, Andrew Allen and Jetty Rae performed at Helmick Commons.
Over 100 students attended the concert.
Jetty Rae was the opening act for Andrew Allen.
Rae is from Michigan and took on her stage name from her grandma, a true-blood Native American who had mental illnesses such as schizophrenia.
“I started performing when I was 18,” Rae said. “I picked up the guitar and started pursuing this career path. I used to be a theatre kid and wanted to go into acting but later on I decided singing and writing songs expressed the real me.”
“My favorite song is ‘Make You Feel Your Love’ by Bob Dylan. I perform it at every concert as the closer because it is just gets the entire crowd excited and singing along,” Rae said.
The singer also said she would be performing songs off her new album, Climbing Clouds.
After Jetty Rae warmed up the crowd with her sweet sound, it was Andrew Allen’s time to perform.
Andrew Allen is from Canada and got his start at a young age.
“I started performing when I was five, at people’s weddings,” Allen said. “It was actually an accident because I just loved the spot light.”
“I took it more seriously about five years ago and my wife and I sold everything we had, bought a mini van and toured across the country. It was so much fun,” Allen said.
Allen played over 240 shows in his first two years, and got his start when a United States label picked him up.
“I performed at Golden Gate Park and there were about 23,000 people,” Allen said.
The concert was considered a success by those who attended.
Every student was singing along to the different styles of music.
At the end of Andrew Allen’s performance, the entire crowd got up and clapped along to his final song.
“The concert was amazing. It had such great vocal talent,” said first-year Sydney Williams.
“Jetty Rae had an amazing voice and Andrew Allen had great lyrics. They really played to the crowd. My favorite song was ‘Loving You Tonight’ by Andrew Allen,” Williams said. “
“I’ve had it on my iPod for years and I never knew who wrote it until I started to see posters around campus for the concert. I was singing along for that whole song. Jetty Rae and Andrew Allen were absolutely fantastic,” said Williams.
