Kylee McBride
Krm001@marietta.edu
Students at
Marietta College fulfilled their childhood dreams when pop singer Jesse McCartney performed at the Gathering Place on Saturday, October 20th. A select few were lucky enough to be randomly chosen for a private meet and greet after the concert.
The Gathering Place on campus re-opened just in time to hold a concert for around 200 students. Doors opened at 8:00 pm, giving students enough time to enjoy refreshments before McCartney came on stage at 9:30 pm. He performed the hits from his Beautiful Soul album: “She’s No You,” “How Do You Sleep?” and more. “Beautiful Soul” was the last song of the night. He debuted both of his new singles, “Wasted” and “Better with You”, from his unreleased E.P.
McCartney announced to fans that he is going on tour at the start of the new year. He also included some covers of songs by Robin Thicke and Leona Lewis. “I think every artist will tell you the new stuff is the most fun to perform, but it’s not always the most fun for the audience. I try to balance it between old and new for the fans,” said McCartney when asked what his favorite songs to perform are.
Jesse McCartney is well-known by our generation because he was a part of Disney Channel and rose to fame during the early 2000s. He is now a 31-year-old restarting his musical career after taking a years-long hiatus. McCartney comes from a family of performers, so in an interview with the singer, he shared with us how he has always been interested in singing and acting from an early age. Despite performing professionally since the age of nine, Jesse tends to get the jitters on occasion before a show; “I definitely get anxious…I get the adrenaline overload. I do a lot of push-ups or sit-ups before I go on stage,” said McCartney.
Tickets for the concert were free to students, courtesy of the school. There were a little over 150 tickets available to M.C. students of all years. All they had to do was show their student ID card for a ticket. They were given out in Andrews Hall starting two weeks prior to McCartney’s performance. The Gathering Place had a line out into the parking lot as doors opened on Saturday.
Students compared their favorite songs by McCartney, along with the shows and movies he has been cast in previously, while waiting for the performance to start. His most recent acting role was on Young and Hungry this past year. During the early 2000s, McCartney appeared as himself on The Suite Life of Zack and Cody on Disney Channel, which is what most students remember.
After the concert, fans that were previously selected for the meet-and-greet were ushered to a private room within the Gathering Place. Sophomore Shawnté Watson was one of the few students chosen to meet the star after the show. “The meet and greet was awesome, I thought he seemed really excited to be at the school,” Watson said. Each student had the opportunity to introduce themselves to McCartney and pose for a photo.
“My favorite memory was when he played ‘Beautiful Soul’. Growing up, that was one of my favorite songs of all-time, so it was amazing to see Jesse perform it live,” continued Watson when asked about her highlights of the evening. Most students shared the same reaction after seeing one of their childhood celebrity crushes in real-life.
