UTunes: Plant Park Heroes Rock Campus

Zach Fraser

Published: Wednesday, April 22, 2009

The second annual concert in the park continued in the footsteps of last year’s event, making the Gym Class Heroes show one of UT’s most memorable moments of the year.
The concert, which was funded and provided by student government and Student Productions, turned out to be entertainment for everyone.

Julissa Veloz, UT student and recent American Idol contestant, opened up the concert with a quick song backed up by two choreographed dancers.

Veloz’s quick performance lead into the true opening band of the night, Quietdrive.
The alternative-rock band from Minneapolis was well rehearsed and polished on stage as they entertained the growing audience of UT students. Quietdrive rolled through roughly a 5-6 song set list, ending with their fan favorite rendition of Cindi Lauper’s, "Time After Time."

After Quietdrive exited and an intermission, the unique sound of Chester French took the stage. Whether you loved or hated this band, they were quite entertaining. The eclectic range of sounds and over-the-top antics provided for great eye candy.
Chester French entered the concert with a bang asking UT students the question, "Are you guys ready to f***?"

This brought laughter and chuckles from UT students and was foreshadowing of what was to come from these Harvard alumni.

The band played roughly eight songs, a few of which were off their free album, "Jacques James Vol. 1: Endurance." Make sure to go to chesterfrench.com to download your free album, which features appearances from artists such as Lady Gaga, Diddy, Pharell and many more.

It’s safe to say that the UT crowd was beginning to become anxious with nearly 40 minutes of waiting time between Chester French and Gym Class Heroes sets, but as the sun set and more students flooded into Plant Park, Gym Class Heroes finally took the stage and the adrenaline kicked back in.

UT students began to go wild as the lights dimmed and the band entered playing, "Peace Sign/Index Down."

"Forget every f****** thing your teachers have taught you," shouted lead singer Travis McCoy as he took the stage.

At this point, if you were to look to the back of Plant Park it would seem as UT students were being evacuated out of the dormitories and into the concert as tons of students swamped the venue.

Gym Class Heroes continued to entertain as they rolled through a few more songs and into their breakout single, "Cupid’s Chokehold."

Once again the band humored and won students over as they preached, "scream like there’s a new president in this m*****f****!"

Gym Class Heroes had everyone in Plant Park on their feet as they continued to play crowd favorites "Taxi Driver" and "Clothes Off!"

Without a doubt, the best moment of the night was when GCH played their hit single, "Cookie Jar." As the intro to the song sounded, the light show illuminated a portrait of hands raised and fans cheering along to what seemed to be the UT audience’s favorite song.

"I like girls, they like me, they look so good, in they Seven jeans," the chorus goes. "Want you to be the one and my only, I want to be faithful, but I can’t keep my hands out the cookie jar."

As the band concluded their nearly 75 minute set list and left the stage, most UT students proved that they had never been to a concert.

Nearly half the crowd exited thinking the show was over to find the band come back on stage to play an encore.

Dumbfounded and embarrassed, the fans that had left sprinted back to catch the final act of the night to find the lead singer not present on stage.

Before you knew it, the crowd erupted and revealed McCoy in the middle of the crowd. A rock star amongst UT students proved to be all it needed for most girls as they mauled the lead singer as he exited the crowd and show for good.

I found myself several times throughout the show being absolutely blown away by Gym Class Heroes stage presence. They were truly sensational live, and, above all else, seemed to be having a great time playing to our campus.

While a lot of UT students may have never heard of Gym Class Heroes before last week’s concert, it is safe to say that the band is probably currently being played on many students’ iTunes. I know they’re on mine right now.

http://www.theminaretonline.com/news/utunes-plant-park-heroes-rock-campus-1.1728001