Recording artists Kat Dahlia and Hoodie Allen came to Keene State College on Saturday, November 21, and put on a well-received concert in the Mabel Brown room.
Connor Morrell / Multimedia Director
Attendants packed the Mabel Brown room for both acts with great energy and enthusiasm. Dahlia, a Cuban American R&B singer, pumped up the crowd with a mix of delicate vocals and intense hip-hop beats. She opened the show with a melody of songs including her most known tracks “Gangster” and “Crazy.” Crowd member and KSC student, Cierra Pinkney said Dahlia “really got into it with the crowd.”
Following Dahlia was the headliner of the show and popular hip-hop artist Hoodie Allen. Allen graced the stage with a live band performing his most-known track “No Interruption” to open his set. Allen went on to perform other songs from both of his past albums and a track from his newest album that has yet to be released.
Allen told the crowd his unreleased album would be completely free for fans to download when it is released. Allen even performed songs from Blink 182 and Smash Mouth to pay homage to the punk rock era of the late 1990s and early 2000s, which he said was an inspiration for his style of music.
Concert Coordinator for the Keene State College Student Activities Council Bryanna Pearson said the event went well. “There were no big problems and the night overall went very seamlessly,” she said. She continued, “I’m very happy with how it went.”
Luke Stergiou / Equinox Staff
To secure the safety of everyone in attendance, Campus Safety coordinated with SAC to help with security during the event. Associate Director of Campus Safety Stuart Mitchell said that everyone in the crowd was well behaved.
Mitchell said, “The students who work for SAC have this wired. They know how to run it, they know how to put it [the concert] on and they do a real good job.”
Along with organizers and security members, many crowd members enjoyed the show as well. KSC student Rachel Murphy said, “The concert was so fun, I love Hoodie Allen…I hope he comes back to Keene.”
KSC first-year, Brady Chamberlain said, “The show was absolutely fantastic, I loved it. Hoodie Allen was amazing on stage.” He continued, “Kat Dahlia did a great job, I hadn’t heard a lot of her stuff before and I really liked it. It was just a killer show.”
Connor Morrell / Multimedia Director
Pearson said a lot of planning went into the event on multiple fronts. SAC talked to the artists’ agents to book them for the show, Security
Coordinator Justin Mahan spoke with campus safety to figure out how many campus safety officers were needed for the event and student-done surveys were taken to decide which acts would be in popular demand.
Pearson said that planning an event like this concert “takes a team.”
Nick Tocco can be contacted at ntocco@kscequinox.com
