Artist B.o.B performed on campus March 23 as the General Activities Board’s first in-person concert since the pandemic began.

The show was in high demand: all 500 tickets were sold within a few hours, even though GAB had planned to sell tickets throughout the week. This means most students on campus were unable to attend.

GAB chose B.o.B to perform at the concert because he appeals to a large audience, said GAB publicity chair Charlene Nsengimana, ’24.

“No matter who you are, most people know at least a couple of his songs,” she said. 

Student band Meat Puzzle was the opening act for the show.

GAB co-chair Haochen Tu, ’22, said that she thinks concerts help build unity across campus.

“Music brings people together,” Tu said. “With live music especially, people are gathered together and we’re enjoying the music from this artist and we’re vibing together.”

GAB is a student organization that typically hosts three artists every year. But because of COVID-19 restrictions, the last time that GAB brought an artist to Washington and Lee was in 2019, when DJ duo Lost Kings performed.

The B.o.B concert kicked off the Fancy Dress festivities being held over the weekend. Like GAB concerts, this was the first Fancy Dress since 2019. 

Nsengimana said that the concert felt like the start of things getting back to the way they used to be on campus.

“It was one of the first times where so many people from different groups, who generally won’t end up in the same room, were all together,” Nsengimana said. “It just felt normal, in a pre-Covid sense.”

Some students, like Harry Barringer, ’23, were disappointed that they weren’t able to get a ticket to the show.

“I would have liked to make it,” Barringer said. “I wish they had sold more than 500 tickets.”

Many said that long lines were a deterrent for them to buy a ticket, along with a lack of knowledge of when tickets went on sale.

Although the tickets were initially sold for $20, some said that they were able to resell their tickets for more than double face value.

GAB said that tickets were limited because they could only sell as many tickets as the capacity of their rain location, which was Evans Hall. The concert location did end up being changed from the third year parking lot to Evans Hall due to poor weather conditions.

During the show, B.o.B, a six-time Grammy nominated rapper and producer, performed hit songs such as “Airplanes” and “HeadBand.” 

He interacted closely with the audience of students, and at one point even crowd-surfed.

Nsengimana also said GAB plans to host a concert during spring term, and the organization hopes to be able to increase the ticket limit for the show.