Though MemAud was only half-filled, Nate Ruess was still impressed with the energy of the crowd and ended up performing three encores.
After performing for about an hour, former fun. frontrunner Nate Ruess continued to sing three encores Wednesday night to an enthusiastic Athens crowd in Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium.
“The most relentless crowd,” Ruess said to the audience. “This is unheard of.”
Some concertgoers, such as Kaitlin Roller and James Oakley from Newark, Ohio, drove more than an hour to attend the concert.
“When he actually talked and talked to the crowd and everything (that was my favorite). I have been waiting forever to see him” Roller said. “I really love ‘Carry On’ because if (I am) getting down, it brings me up and it makes me feel good.”
As for Oakley, “all of it” was his favorite.
Though Roller came to see Ruess, she said she liked the opening act Saint Motel.
“I really enjoyed them,” Roller said. “I am probably going to get into (the band's music) soon.”
Additionally, Saint Motel led chants of the classic cheer “OU, Oh Yeah!,” despite this being the band’s first visit to campus.
Only about half of MemAud was booked, with its capacity being about 1,900. Tickets had even been offered for a “buy one, get one free” discount.
“We ended up having between 800 and 900 (people). I probably expected more than that just because of his popularity, I thought it would be a very strong appeal to the students,” Andrew Holzaepfel, senior associate director of the Campus Involvement Center, said. “They certainly made themselves known, it felt like a bigger crowd than it was, which was great.”
Ruess’ performance really struck a chord not only with the crowd but also with Holzaepfel.
“I have been doing this for 16 years, but it was one of the best shows I have seen,” Holzaepfel said. “He had the crowd from the beginning to end it felt like.”
Performances included renditions of “You Can Call Me Al,” originally by Paul Simon, to The Beatles’ “Hey Jude” and some of fun.’s biggest hits including “We Are Young” and “Some Nights.”
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And for many concertgoers, their high expectations were far beyond met.
Sarah Boston, a junior studying biological sciences pre-med, came with her group from the University Program Council to watch.
“I am a really big fan of fun., so it all goes hand in hand,” Boston said. “I really like Nate Ruess’ song ‘Nothing Without Love.’ ”
After three encores with the crowd that never wanted it to end, Ruess had to head to Chicago. Before he left, Ruess spent time meeting fans, signing autographs and taking photos.
The crowd’s enthusiasm was definitely reciprocated.
“It was amazing. Absolutely amazing, like, I wasn’t expecting (it),” Ruess said. “You don’t play for encores really, so when you get, like, three or four or whatever the heck we got — that says something.”
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