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[ Monday, April 28, 2003 ]

50 Cent tickets not worth 50 cents

Collegian Staff Writer

Forget G-G-G G-Unit. Just g-g-g give us our damn money back.

50 Cent and his special guest Clipse took to the stage on Friday night at the Bryce Jordan Center, but they decided not to stay very long.

After making the crowd wait, the duo Clipse eventually made its way up to the stage and did its best to get the audience in the mood. But just when the crowd was starting to really get into it, Clipse ran off the stage after only being on for about a half hour.

This wasn't too unexpected, as many audience members had heard about the short set lists for the opening act on this tour, but what came as a surprise was the intermission that was about to take place.

Immediately following Clipse's departure, a DJ took the stage and informed everyone that 50 Cent was up next. He then made sure everyone knew how to greet 50 Cent and his crew by repeating "G-G-G G-Unit," over and over. If someone in the crowd didn't know how to say this phrase before, they definitely knew by the show's end.

The DJ scratched on a couple songs, but mostly it was an hour-long -- that's right, an hour-long -- block of songs that could have come right off of MTV's Direct Effect.

By now, the crowd was growing increasingly restless, and they made it known. At 9:35 p.m., a little more than an hour after Clipse left the stage, the crowd's collective voice boomed with an overwhelming, "Boo!"

This continued for a couple of minutes until the DJ took the microphone and said, "I'm with you guys." Now instead of asking the crowd to cheer, or telling them that 50 Cent was in the building, he was asking, "Has anyone seen 50?"

After some more booing, and some fans throwing objects on the stage, 50 Cent finally decided it was a good time to come out and perform. The show's only saving grace was 50 Cent's charismatic performance. He smiled more than a three-legged man in an ass-kicking contest, and, once again, the G-Unit call was in full effect.

In fact, the only thing more frequent than the G-Unit yells, was 50 Cent's wardrobe change.

He started off the show with a Michael Jordan throwback Washington Bullets jersey, but it didn't last for more than one song. 50 changed from jersey to bulletproof vest, to undershirt, to no shirt. While all of this was going on he also went through about a dozen towels and numerous hats.

50 and his crew did have the crowd going during the set with songs like "Wanksta" and "In Da Club." He also made sure he stayed in the crowd's good graces by leaving the stage a couple times and even climbed up to
the 100-level seats to high-five some fans.

By 10:23 p.m., the show came to a close, and the general mood in the crowd was disappointment, although the high-school girls that were dancing in front of me during the intermission did say that the show was "awesome."

Now that I think about it, if I were 50 Cent, I would have been smiling for the entire show, too. It's not every day that you can charge thousands of people $32.50 for a ticket and be on stage for less than an hour.


PHOTO: Matt Shirk
PHOTO: Matt Shirk
A member of Clipse performs at the Bryce Jordan Center. The duo opened for 50 Cent Friday night in a short concert that disappointed some attendees.
 

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Updated: Monday, April 28, 2003  2:06:10 AM  -4
Requested: Sunday, September 07, 2008  10:25:07 AM  -4
Created: Wednesday, May 07, 2008  6:41:49 PM  -4