By Kallie Berens
On Saturday, Feb. 8, SGA students rushed from Airbandz and into their country vests for the last concert that will take place in the Great Hall prior to renovations.
Doors opened at 10 p.m. with a ten-song act from country singer Leah Daniels, a 26-year-old hailing from Uxbridge, Ontario.
Daniels and her three-piece backup band played new material along with songs by OneRepublic, Foo Fighters and Survivor’s “Eye Of The Tiger.”
In her last song, Daniels unveiled a talent for yodeling.
By the time the headliner, Tim Hicks, came onstage approximately 13 people were wearing cowboy hats by the main stage, and another 15 were wearing trucker hats, a style that Tim Hicks has worn in his videos and promotional shots. He did not disappoint that night.
Beginning shortly after 11 p.m. tension built up as the band waited to take the stage, AC/DC’s “Back in Black” providing filler music, pierced by screaming fans.
Tim Hicks and his band engaged the crowd by requesting synchronized clapping during various parts of their songs, ensuring cellphones were rarely used during the show.
“Rarely” is used, because within the first half hour, in the midst of a song, Hicks had posted two videos to his Twitter account using the application Vine, with shots of the crowd and flashes of himself with his fellow bandmates. When Hicks announced to the crowd that the videos had been uploaded, the crowd cheered loudly.
Hicks also borrowed phones from front-row audience members, snapping photos then handing them back to their rightful owners.
Hicks, who comes from St. Catharines, is currently nominated in two categories at the upcoming Juno Awards and through the Canadian Country Music Association. His number one selling single “Get By” was the number-one selling single in Canada for 17 weeks and was certified gold.
In addition to playing songs off his August 2013 release “Throw Down” he played a song that he “wrote last week” and a number of covers, including “Sudbury Saturday Night” by Stompin’ Tom Connors.
A week before the concert, the SGA announced that admission was free to all students within the association with an option to bring one non-SGA guest for an additional $20.