Lil Wayne Comes to Appalachian

For the duration of the Spring 2017 semester myself, my advisor, and my council have been extensively preparing for the sold out Lil Wayne show coming to our campus. Myself and my advisor had the opportunity to book and execute the show responsibilities handling everything from venue booking all the way to artist hospitality. Our day began at 7 a.m. at Legends to load the $400 worth of groceries we had to buy in preparation for breakfast and to fulfill the artist's hospitality riders. After loading all of the necessary equipment we drove over to the Holmes Convocation Center to load in our stuff before the gear Lil Wayne was bringing was scheduled to show up and load in. After arriving two hours late, load in began and the stage began to come together as lights were hoisted and rigged, and drum sets were put together. There were breaks between meals where we were able to take breaks essentially until it was time for doors to open at 7 p.m. The first opener Cyhi da Prynce took the stage right at 8 p.m. and he performed for around 25 minutes of his allotted 30 minute set time. A quick stage changeover took place before the second opener Bas took the stage around 8:45 p.m. he also played for around 25 minutes of his 30 minutes allotted. Lil Wayne still had not arrived at convocation and he was set to go on stage a 9:30 p.m. After asking around and asking his manager where he was and when he was going to be arriving, we kept receiving the same, "he'll be here" answer. With his set supposed to start at 9:30 p.m. his tour bus pulled into convocation at 9:25 p.m. He took the stage around 9:45 p.m. and the audience went insane when he took the stage. He performed for just over an hour and during his last song I gathered my council together and we went backstage to get a picture with him on his way to the tour bus. Breakdown and cleaning went incredibly smooth and we were out of the arena by 1 a.m. This was easily one of the most memorable shows I have been a part of!