I think I speak for many people when I say that Saturday night’s concert presented by 94.9 Jamz at Mac Court, featuring Fat Joe, Sean Kingston, and the recently incarcerated Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr, aka Lil’ Wayne, was one of the worst planned and executed events ever. First and foremost, I take most of the blame for my atrocious night, seeing as though if I had any sense, I should have known that a concert with Lil’ Wayne, Fat Joe and Sean Kingston was going to be horrible. However, as one of the most-promoted events to hit Eugene this year, I figured I should be a part of it. Earlier that day, Yahoo! news informed me that Lil’ Wayne had been arrested in Boise, Idaho early that morning, for being considered a fugitive in the state.
The fact that Lil’ Wayne was in jail on Saturday night is no one’s fault but his own, and those who he holds responsible for being on top of his various arrest warrants. That’s fine. Like I said, it was my mistake for even attending the show. The issue that I have with the evening is not even that Lil’ Wayne wasn’t there, but rather that the acts before Lil’ Wayne’s alleged performance kept hyping him up and getting the crowd excited. I think I would have rather been told that he wasn’t going to perform, so I could make alternative plans. After Sean Kingston came on and proved that du-wop and hip hop really don’t mix, and that he doesn’t have a talented bone in his body, the lights in the rafters of Mac Court slowly illuminated. The no-where-near sold out crowd was waiting for Lil’ Wayne to take the stage, but he didn’t. The lights got brighter and brighter and after a few minutes of bottles being thrown, and screams of “Bulls**t” coming from the stands, the DJ announced that the “Show’s over.” This must be some kind of joke. Surely, since Lil’ Wayne’s appearance has been hyped the entire night, he must have been let out of his Boise jail cell? Nope. Everyone in attendance slowly filed out of Mac Court, displaying their disappointment and chagrin. Anyway, a big thank you to 94.9 and the event planners for going out of their way to tell us that Lil’ Wayne was in fact going to perform, all the way up until the last minute. The only person with any sense was Charlie Murphy, who stormed off stage after calling the event planners various expletives, and telling the rowdy audience that he agrees when we say that comedy and music don’t mix. I’m an idiot for believing that the show had any hope of being good.
Tom Clark
University senior