Cagle plays it loud

Chadron State College Homecoming 2010 featured a concert by Chris Cagle Saturday in the Nelson Physical Activity Center.

Sales of the tickets began approximately a month before the concert and soon sold out. There were 900 tickets available for the students and the community.

Campus Security, Chadron Police Department, Dawes County Sheriff’s Department, Crawford Police Department, Nebraska State Highway Patrol, and ROTC all provided security in order to ensure safety of both the singer and the audience.

The audience was allowed to take pictures during the concert, but video recording was prohibited.

The first attendees started to come earlier than half an hour before the concert. Most audience members stood in front of the stage before the concert began.

Despite some doubts, the N-PAC turned out to be spacious enough to fit the big crowd, without making anyone feel like a sausage in a hot dog bun.

In fact, there was enough spare space for dancers to show off their country swing dancing skills.

Many cowboys and cowgirls had their best outfits on, which added up to the western atmosphere.

The concert was interesting not only for those belonging to the cowboy culture, but also for multiple football players, who yelled cheerfully, answering Cagle’s acknowledgement of both the importance of football and its players.

During the concert, Cagle demonstrated incredible ability to communicate with the audience.

He often addressed the city of Chadron, Chadron State College, and CSC students, which provoked rounds of applause from the audience.

He included Chadron and the CSC in some of his lyrics, engaging the whole audience and making the students and the community members feel important.

Spectators enthusiastically sang together with the singer and clapped to the beat. Some students sat on each other’s shoulders to see Cagle better and to be noticed by the singer and the audience.

Maverick Churchill, senior of Scottsbluff, shouted “Free Bird!” Cagle invited Churchill onto the stage, causing the crowd to cheer excitedly. Like old friends, they patted each other on the back before the student got off the stage.

In between sets, Cagle told multiple stories about himself, and then borrowed a student’s Flip® to record a video of himself and the crowd cheering.

Throughout most of the concert, Cagle wore a CSC baseball cap, which he signed and threw from the stage for the audience to catch.

The country icon delivered and gave CSC a great concert.

This article originally listed “Campus security, the Chadron Police Department, and the U.S. Army National Guard” and omitted several other agencies that helped with security at the concert. Additionally, assistance was provided by ROTC not Army National Guard.