It was tough finding an empty seat for the concert at Wichita State’s Charles Koch Arena Saturday night.

I found all the great seats taken. Surrounded by a sea of denims, checkered shirts and cowboy hats, I noticed that everything screamed country music.

The first country artist to perform was 39-year-old James Otto, who has performed at Wichita State before. A great singer and performer, he positively engaged the crowd in a manner that few performers at WSU in the recent past have. His songs like “It’s a good time” had the crowd swaying, clapping, waving cell-phones and lighters, and even dropping the “F-bomb” several times.

Following Otto’s performance, Student Government President Luis Carbajal came on stage to thank the audience for attending, to recognize the SGA members for their support, and to applaud Otto for his performance.

“Thanks for coming and supporting SGA…. I want to give another round of applause to our country artists,” Carbajal said. “I want to recognize… our Vice President, Olivia Sullivan, for all the hard work [she did] to put this show on.”

The star of the night, Joe Nichols, came on stage and was greeted by deafening applause. He went on to sing some of his best songs, including “The Impossible,” the 2002 single that peaked at #3 on the Billboard charts.

Nichols’ performance was filled with energy; he tended to get cheeky and humorous.

Twenty minutes into his performance, he started singing a country version of Sir Mix-a-Lot’s “Baby Got Back.”

“Country fans needed no encouragement to show up. But I feel sorry for those who could not make it as they missed a memorable performance,” Kurush Tavadia, an international student, said.

With the combination of a huge crowd, excellent stage management and brilliant performers, the Shocker Appreciation concert with Joe Nichols and James Otto was a definite win for SGA.

The concert was a celebration of SGA’s 100th birthday.