On Oct. 1, popular country singer Jelly Roll performed at the Bryce Jordan Center (BJC) in State College as part of his “The Beautifully Broken” tour.
The 39-year-old country artist started his career in 2003 as a rapper and shifted into country music through the years. His first full album “Addiction Kills” was released in 2017, but he jumped into mainstream music in 2022 after releasing two singles “Son of a Sinner” and “Need a Favor.”
“Jelly Roll is a really great performer and I love his message of spreading kindness and to love everybody. Also, he does all different types of music, not just one,” senior Karis John said.
Warren Zeiders, a 24-year-old country artist, was one of the two openers for Jelly Roll on Tuesday. Zeiders is barreling onto the country music scene. “Pretty Little Poison,” the title song of his debut album, reached number one hit on country radio.
The other opener for the concert, 33-year-old Alexandra Kay, is newer to the country artist scene, even though she’s been writing songs since she was 15. Kay has one album with a few singles and her most famous songs have been covers from singers like Dolly Parton and Tim McGraw. She was also a contestant on “The Voice” in 2017.
“The concert was amazing. I loved all the special effects and the openers” John said.
After the opening act, Jelly Roll came out onto the stage in the BJC. Sophomore Alyya Stevens attended the concert and spoke about the type of performer Jelly Roll is.
“He puts on a really good show. Something he kept saying that made the show even better was he was calling it a ‘family reunion of broken people’ instead of just a concert,” Stevens said.
With Jelly Roll’s highly anticipated appearance in State College, many fans traveled into town to watch him sing.
“The atmosphere was good, everyone was very nice,” Stevens described.
Jelly Roll played many of his hit songs playing “I Am Not Okay,” “Liar,” “Get By,” and “Time of Day,” along with “Save Me” as the last song of the night.
“My favorite part was the last song he sang [Save Me]. He was standing in the ‘rain’ kind of and it really made the feeling and vibe of that song how I’ve always assumed,” Stevens said.
Both John and Stevens said they very much enjoyed the performance and would go again.
“I would 100% go again, this was my favorite concert I’ve ever been to. 10/10 recommend,” John said.
