By Brent Walkoff
Contributing Writer
From bread bowls to impromptu dance parties, this year’s Center Stage event seemingly had it all. Held on Saturday, Sept. 11 on Sojka Lawn, Center Stage 2010 featured music, a cappella groups, free food and Weekend Update host Seth Meyers.
The event, organized by Activities and Campus Events (ACE) and free for all University students, was a hit.
“I think Center Stage went amazingly well,” said Mary Evans ’11, Vice President of Advertising for ACE. “People came to the performance early to grab seats and most stayed the entire time. And the number of people who came was fantastic,” she said.
Evans estimates that around 2,000 people attended the event.
Student band Bigfoot opened the evening, performing cover and original songs. The background tunes accompanied many students’ favorite aspect of the night: the food. From soup to cookie dough on a stick to hot apple cider, there was no lack of happy, full college students. The soup in bread bowls seemed to be a particular favorite of the crowd.
“The soup, now that was good. That was really good,” Connor Beach ’14 said.
Bucknell’s various a cappella groups came next, each group taking the stage to perform a few select songs. The Silhouettes, Two Past Midnight, Beyond Unison and the Bison Chips all sung their own musical selections. Although the performances seemed somewhat drawn out at times, the groups took the stage professionally and enthusiastically, a testament to the amount of time they put into practicing. As entertaining as the groups were the highlight of the night was unquestionably the routine put on by Seth Meyers.
Meyers, head writer and anchor of Saturday Night Live, took the stage with a big smile and confidence in his step. What followed can only be described as a stand-up routine brimming with the kind of humor that college students have come to know and love. From sex to drugs to drinking and back to sex, Meyers covered every topic a typical college student could want. Meyers’ routine was met with laughs and cheers. A few students even appeared to be in physical pain from laughing throughout the night.
“I like how he tailored it towards the college student. His routine was very college oriented; his jokes were clearly designed for us,” Beach said.
His routine struck home. Even the occasional hiccup during his bit, such as a few students sitting front and center leaving during his performance, did not faze him. He was able to use such situations to his own benefit, quickly firing off a poke at the students.
“It was obvious that the students were having a great time and that’s what I wanted to see. People were laughing, myself included, for every Seth Meyers joke and I heard several people say afterward that he was the best comedian we’ve had at Bucknell,” Evans said.