Students gave Drake a big welcome Tuesday as Lantz Arena almost completely filled for his performance.

Students came with tickets in hand and cell phones to light up the dark auditorium and cheered on both Drake and the opening acts.

Aubrey “Drake” Graham began the show with his hit song “Best I Ever Had,” with a huge uproar from the crowd.

Students started lining up at the door at 5 p.m. while doors opened at 7 p.m.

“I came because I love Drake,” said Erin Clark, a junior pre-med major. “I loved him on ‘Degrassi.’ I heard from other people at other schools he has really good performances and I wanted to see him perform.”

Rauvon Gaston, a sophomore sports management major, said he went because he had not been to a concert in a long time.

Other students wanted to see Drake because they have been following his music for a long time.

Danielle Coleman, a senior at Charleston High School, wanted to see Drake to see what he brought to the table performance-wise.

Michael Scott, a freshman accounting major, is a big rap and R&B fan and said he has been listening to Drake ever since he came out.

Two other acts were part of Drake’s tour, rapper K-OS and band Francis and the Lights.

Opening act Francis and the Lights performed the first set of songs with their four-member band and rapper K-OS.

K-OS did a remix of “Don’t Stop Believing,” along with a number of other songs.

Krystina Lamorte, the concerts coordinator-elect for the University Board, said the concert went smoothly.

“We didn’t have too many problems,” Lamorte said. “If we did, they were small.”

She said the first crewmembers to set up the event arrived around 8 a.m.

Lamorte also said there were a few problems with security, but that nothing major occurred.

Despite the large number of presale tickets, some tickets were also sold at the event.

“They had a couple left,” Lamorte said.

Ceci Brinker, director of Student Life, said everything with security and emergency medical technicians went well.

One problem did occur, with one person passing out because of the heat and air conditioning malfunctions that occurred, but she will be OK.

“The EMTs checked her out,” Brinker said.

Francis and the Lights

Francis Farewell Starlite, vocalist for Francis and the Lights, started singing and becoming interested in music when he was young.

He writes all the songs for the four-member band and thinks there is something real about the band’s music.

“We are trying to do something original,” Starlite said.

Starlite compared himself to the way big bands used to lead, with a leader/frontman and the way the band is orchestrated.

The band consists of Jump Back Jake Rabinbach, guitar, Rene Solomon, drummer, and Jake Scbreier, keyboardist and music video director.

Francis said he really is looking forward to the main track on his new album called “It’ll be Better.”

However, he was unsure of when the new album would come out.

Heather Holm can be reached at 581-7942 or haholm@eiu.edu.

Aubrey “Drake” Graham performs Tuesday evening in Lantz Arena for Eastern’s spring concert. It sold around 3,300 tickets, making it the most successful spring concert to date. Drake started his performance just before 10 p.m.(Jon Gitchoff/The Daily Easter

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