Gavin DeGraw plays for about 800 students in field house

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Gavin DeGraw performed at the spring concert May 14 in the Anderson Athletic and Recreation Complex field house. About 800 people attended the concert, said STAR programming intern Mo Berkowitz.

Sophomore Danny Lindsey said DeGraw’s performance was well done and added that he enjoyed hearing him sing.

“It’s really cool to hear different music from Gavin DeGraw, because I only knew two of his songs,” Lindsey said.

Tim Mahoney, known for his appearance on the singing competition show “The Voice,” was the opening act. Sophomore Jonathan Wadle said Mahoney’s performance was all right.

“I didn’t really know many of his songs, but he seemed like a very talented artist,” Wadle said.

Sophomore Katie Anderson became a fan of DeGraw after hearing his song, “I Don’t Want to Be,” at the opening of the show, “One Tree Hill.”

“I’m a big … fan [of the show], so I really like Gavin DeGraw,” she said.

But some students didn’t enjoy the concert as much. Junior Joel Ring said he ended up leaving before the concert was over because he “wasn’t really feeling it.”

“I didn’t know many of Gavin’s songs before the concert and the songs I did know, he didn’t play near the beginning,” Ring said. “If I had heard one of those songs, I might have wanted to stay longer.”

Although many audience members didn’t seem to know DeGraw’s songs, they were still involved in his performance. During some songs, DeGraw would stop singing and ask the audience to sing back his lyrics.

DeGraw saved his most popular songs for last, playing his well-known song “Chariot,” near the end of the concert. DeGraw also played “Belief” and “I Don’t Want to Be” in a two-song encore.

Rita Kovtun can be reached at kovt1547@stthomas.edu.