American Idol winner Kris Allen visits SDSU

Miranda Bader Juice Editor

On Thursday Sept. 12 at 8 p.m., Season 8 American Idol winner Kris Allen performed at the Performing Arts Center at SDSU.

Although the audience was fairly small, the screaming, clapping, and singing made it sound as if the PAC was full. He told the audience he was warned the crowd was small, but he said, “I can’t see past ten rows, so it looks huge to me, and your voices are helping out too.” 

Allen opened with a song the audience did not know, but assured the fans he would teach the words. By the end of the song, the audience sang along as if they knew every word.

Allen played an untitled song that is currently a work-in-progress for his upcoming album. The fans responded well and he performed it with soul. He told the audience it would either be on his third album or if he saw fit, his fourth.

Kayla Lerew catered for Allen and his band earlier that morning and sat towards the back to enjoy the show.

“I wasn’t really expecting the acoustic, but it’s good. I’ve liked that better,” Lerew said.

Allen took every opportunity he could to make a personal impression on the audience. He conversed with the fans more than he talked at them.  There was even an audience member who shouted “can I play your cohune?” Rather than ignoring the fan, Allen went on to tell a story about a previous fan who had jumped onto the stage to play the instrument.

 He later went on to talk about how much he has enjoyed his stay in Brookings. After the audience cheered, he asked if anyone needed a roommate. The girls immediately raised their hands and cat-called. 

Although the crowd was better populated with girls, male students sat back and enjoyed the performance as well. 

“It’s not my kind of music but I like it,” said graduate student Jarrod Bumsted.

Allen created a mash-up of five popular cover songs, with a wide range of popular artists such as Rihanna, Katy Perry and later ended with Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines.” After exciting the crowd, he closed the performance with his most popular song “Live Like We’re Dying” and was later encored. 

When he came back onto the stage, he began to talk about a serious recent event in his life.

“Earlier this year I was in a pretty bad head-on collision. It’s really made me look at my life a lot differently… The woman who ran in to me was distracted.”  

 Allen never found out what distracted her, but he came to the conclusion that she was probably texting and driving.        “You guys are probably so sick of hearing about it, it’s pissing you off, but please, don’t do it. It can wait,” Allen said before performing one more song.

“[The concert] was awesome!,” said sophomore dietetics major Christine Holm.

Holm said she enjoys all of Allen’s songs. “He sounds just as good live as he does recorded. It’s really amazing.”