Homecoming, Halloween and hip-hop -- it's all coming together this weekend.

And to kick things off, Grammy-winning producer-turned-rapper Kanye West will perform tomorrow at Bryce Jordan Center along with soul-crooning American Idol winner Fantasia and R&B up-and-comer Keyshia Cole as part of the Touch the Sky tour.

Ashley Fiddler (senior-health policy and administration) considers herself a West aficionado. In fact, she's even the founder of the largest Facebook group at Penn State for West.

"I've been listening to him since his first CD came out," Fiddler said. "I guess you could say I'm a diehard fan."

In the year and a half since his debut album, The College Dropout, was released, West has used politically charged rhymes and easy-to-swallow beats to go from one of hip-hop's favorite beatmakers to one of its biggest stars. The Chicago-born emcee's most recent album, Late Registration, has already generated a number of successful singles in the month and a half since its release.

Bernie Punt, Bryce Jordan Center marketing director, said everybody should be pleased with the crowd at the show, including Mr. West himself.

"We're going to have one of the largest crowds on the whole tour," Punt said of the ticket sales. "With the booking of this show and everything that's been happening with Kanye, the timing couldn't have been more perfect. People are coming from everywhere."

With homecoming festivities and Halloween making everyone's weekend a little crazy, Punt said the Jordan Center made some special considerations for the show's attendees.

"We actually moved the time of the show not to interfere with homecoming," Punt said. "In fact, I believe there's going to be a fireworks display immediately after the parade [at 8 p.m.], right outside our building."

But even the accommodations Bryce Jordan Center made for the homecoming festivities won't help Fiddler catch the show she's dying to see: She's gotta work.

"I'm a captain of security on Homecoming," Fiddler said. "So I have to be at the parade and the pep rally."

Hinting at potential surprises that the unpredictable Kanye might conjure up, Punt said the Touch the Sky tour should satisfying all fans of the Windy City wordsmith.

"Kanye's gonna blow us all away," Punt said. "I've been reading the reviews of the shows so far this tour, and it seems like every show, there's something different going on."

Although he's heard a smattering of dismay that West's fellow Chi-town emcee Common won't be joining West on the tour as planned because of a prior commitment at a film shoot, Punt said everyone else seems incredibly pleased to get Kanye and friends to the area.

"Among people buying tickets, I haven't seen this kind of excitement in many years," Punt said. "Just sort of like it's been with the football program. It just seems like there's a lot of positive energy on campus this year. It's great; it's keeping us all young."

Also on the schedule, American Idol 3 winner Fantasia Barrino's first album, last year's classically sounding Free Yourself, has spawned several R&B hits, and the singer recently released her autobiography, Life Is Not a Fairy Tale.

Keyshia Cole was one of the first artists signed to West's G.O.O.D. Music label, and her mix of brash vocals and hip-hop beats has gained her comparisons to the likes of Mary J. Blige. Her debut album, The Way It Is, is perhaps best known for singles "I Changed My Mind" and "(I Just Want It) To Be Over."

Brenton Stewart (senior-psychology and sociology) said that although he was looking forward to seeing Common perform, he's open to checking out the other opening acts.

"I've been a fan of Kanye since before his first album came out," Stewart said, adding that this will be his first time seeing the artist in concert. "I like his creative beats, I like the way he works hard at what he does, I like his style -- both in fashion and in music selection. I just hope it gives me something to dance to."