On Saturday, October 15th, Drexel students made their way to Lot F to see the highly anticipated DragonFly concert. This year’s concert was put on by Drexel’s Campus Activities Board (CAB) and Dragon Concert Series (DCS). Members of both organizations promoted the event by having an artist reveal on Race Lawn and through artistic flyers and posters that were plastered all over campus.
Image courtesy of The Triangle
At the reveal, it was announced that the opening act was Seeb, a trio of EDM producers who hail from Norway. The headlining performers were announced as DRAM, a rapper known for his hit song, “Broccoli” (featuring Lil Yachty), and Kehlani, an R&B artist from Oakland, California, who most recently was on a track featured in The Fate of the Furious (part of The Fast and The Furious movie franchise) called “Good Life” with G-Eazy.
I think that this time around, Drexel obtained a great variety of music for their annual fall concert. And when I heard that Kehlani was one of the headliners, I freaked out in the best way possible. As someone who is a huge Kehlani fan and has seen her in concert before, I knew that she would bring 150% to her performance and was extremely excited to see her again.
I didn’t really know much about Seeb, except for the fact that they have a song with One Republic called, “Rich Love”, so I didn’t show up for their set. I found myself in Lot F during the middle of DRAM’s set and he performed his hit “Broccoli” (which everyone was waiting for.) He gave some life advice and congratulated us for making it as far as we have in college, and spoke of his admiration for us college students because he never graduated.
Image courtesy of Billboard
After he got the crowd hyped up for a bit, we waited about 20 minutes in anticipation until Kehlani came on stage, full of happiness and energy. Her backup dancers were very precise with their moves, and so so talented. She performed some of her hits, such as, “CRZY”, “Distraction”, “Get Like” and “Undercover”, the latter where she dedicated the song to members of the LGBTQ community and praised them for being “out and proud.” One thing that I love about Kehlani is that she genuinely cares about her fans and encourages them to be true to themselves. She is a strong supporter of the LGBTQ community and always does what she can to make them feel comfortable and acknowledged at her shows.
The overall production during Kehlani’s performance was so fun – smoke came out of the stage and the colored lights made the concert very mesmerizing. Her dancing was also incredible and hearing her vocals live was so amazing—even sounding better than the audio tracks on her album. The only negative about her performance was that she only sang for 30 minutes. Even though I have seen her before, I wish she stayed a bit longer to show Drexel how much talent she has.
Image courtesy of @Kehlani on Instagram
Compared to past concerts, the energy was not as high – it came in waves. However, I had fun attending the show with my friends and singing every word to Kehlani’s songs at the top of my lungs. It was fun while it lasted, and I can’t wait to see what is in store for next year’s lineup!