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Jack Johnson and Friends “Rocked the Vote”

As Eisenhower Auditorium filled up last night, chants of WE ARE! PENN STATE! filled the air before the bands took the stage. People up in the balcony section — like me — were shocked to see just how high up in the air it was. Despite that, the view was fantastic, allowing everyone to see everything, and to look down at the very intimate stage layout.

Animal Liberation Orchestra, also known as ALO, took the stage first. “I always wanted to be a professor. I feel like this is my moment,” frontman Zach Gill said to start things off.

Their set consisted of 60s-esque feelgood music, which filled the air as soon as their set started. The song ‘Girl I Wanna Lay You Down’ was a huge crowd favorite. Jack Johnson has been known to come out and do guest vocals on this song, but he did not at this performance.

The band also approved of the WE ARE! chants flowing through the crowd, and even led one of their own.

They ended their set with ‘Storms and Hurricanes,’ from their upcoming album. To please the crowd even more, they switched up some of the lyrics in the song and sang, “As long as I found you Penn State,” which drew a standing ovation.

Next up was G. Love, his guitar, and his harmonica. He kicked off his set with ‘Milk and Sugar.’ He also made a shout out to people from his hometown of Philadelphia, which filled the auditorium with a roar.

Later on in his set, he performed his cover of Bukka White’s ‘Fixin’ to Die,’ which he recorded with The Avett Brothers in Asheville, North Carolina.

Following that, he did ‘Booty Call,’ which has two versions: the clean version, and the dirty version, which he rapped through.

He broke into another cover, this time of Biz Markie’s ‘Just a Friend,’ which the crowd absolutely loved. Nothing says awesome like 80s covers!

He announced that he’ll be back in State College on November 7th to perform at the State Theater with his band, before he ended his set with ‘Peace, Love and Happiness.’

The night’s performances ended with Jack Johnson. As Johnson got on stage, the faint smell of pot and incense filled the air. Fellow Onward Stater Greg Schlosser sent me a tweet saying, “I wonder if it’s the first time there’s ever been pot smoked in here though.” There’s always a first for everything, right?

Johnson told cute stories of how many of his songs came to be while he was a student at UC Santa Barbara, and throughout his life.

“I’ll take requests!….Just kidding!” This was a common theme of the night. People shouted their requests at him, and at times it got to be overwhelming. Johnson promised he’d get to all of the songs shouted. One guy even shouted, “I wish you were my dad!” at him.

When he performed ‘Bubble Toes,’ a chorus of  “la da da da da das” filled the air. Later on, he performed a cover of the Steve Miller Band’s ‘The Joker.’ It was a great cover with a lot of energy.

Zach Gill was also on stage with Johnson during his set, and he performed an awesome accordion solo. As it was the last night of the Rock the Vote tour, everybody got up on stage and had a musical party.

Jack Johnson ended his set with ‘At or With Me,’ before going into an encore. His encore featured super romantic songs, and crowd favorites like ‘Do You Remember,’ ‘Gone,’ and ‘Better Together.’

All in all, the night’s performances were a big success, as was the Rock the Vote bus stop, which handed out tons of free stuff to the students!

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About the Author

Meghin Moore

Meghin is a senior majoring in Broadcast Journalism and minoring in English. She transferred from the Harrisburg campus as a junior to finish out her schooling at University Park. She has a passion for all things music, fashion, art, and food. She's a Pennsylvania native (born outside of Pittsburgh, and lived in Lebanon for 11 years), but resides in Virginia when she's not in school, and has moved a total of ten times in her life, mostly thanks to the military.

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