Concerts are back on Bradley’s campus, but they look a little bit different than those in the fall semester.
Due to a nationwide rise in COVID-19 cases, artist Clinton Kane joined Bradley students via Zoom from Salt Lake City, Utah. The concert, organized by ACBU, began at 7 p.m. on Jan. 23.
“We wanted to [have the spring concert on Zoom] just to keep all students safe but still have some sort of engaging entertainment that people could watch,” Ashley Kasper, junior nursing major and one of the vice presidents of ACBU, said.
Kane began making music back in September 2018 and quickly became popular on YouTube.
“It was a weird thing for me,” Kane said. “I wrote my first song and put it on YouTube [and] then the very next day it blew up, and I was like, ‘Oh, that’s cool.’”
According to ACBU, it was quite simple to get Kane to perform for the students, even with the switch of format from in-person to Zoom.
“Fortunately for us, we were able to switch it over to the virtual format relatively easily,” Kasper said. “In the past, we’ve had to do this with some of our other concerts and activities and events … and [Kane] agreed to do a virtual format.”
The concert itself was classified as a webinar, which meant that the students were all muted with cameras off so Kane could not see the audience. At one point, he even jokingly mentioned how he missed the attention and cheers.
Despite not being able to see the virtual crowd, Kane was still able to read all of the love and virtual cheering from the students through the chat.
Throughout the concert itself, there were two organized breaks for a Q&A session. Questions ranged from when Kane started music to his favorite artist; he stated that, among many artists and bands, he currently enjoys The 1975 and Ben Howard.
“With it being virtual, we didn’t really want it to seem like people were just sitting there being forced to watch the concert,” Kasper said, “So having the Q&A kind of breaks it up a little bit and makes it seem more intimate and personal. It really just seemed like we were chilling with Clinton.”
One question that made Kane open up was “Growing up, did you ever want to be a musician?” His answer was no; while he grew up singing in church, he never wanted to do it as a job. Instead, he followed the path of pre-med to be a cardiologist and ended up finishing his undergrad before changing to music. He even revealed that if he was not doing music now, he would probably be a travel blogger.
However, Kane’s biggest news of the night was that he was planning to release some new music in addition to a debut album, as well as embark on a tour in March and April, and possibly another tour at the end of the year including a show in Chicago.
The concert ended at 8 p.m., with Kane playing his hit song “Chicken Tendies,” which was a fan favorite.
“‘Chicken Tendies’ was the song I discovered Clinton Kane by, so for me, it is a favorite,” Hannah Pigott, freshman nursing major, said. “I also like the story and meaning behind the song. It is about the complicated relationship he had with his mom, but it can be taken in so many different directions depending on where the listener is in their own life.”
ACBU’s concert planning does not stop with Kane’s virtual performance.
At the end of the event, ACBU made the first announcement of the artists playing at the annual Recess concert which is planned for April 8. Singer-songwriter Tai Verdes will be the opener, and the group Surfaces will be the main performers. Student tickets go on sale from Jan. 28 for $15 until Feb. 21, after which prices will go up to $20.
