My First Concert: Kid Cudi & N.E.R.D. at Cameron Indoor, 3.21.18
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Cameron Rocks 2010. Thursday, April 1st, 2010 at 8pm. Being the die-hard Duke fan I am, it was only right my first concert was at Cameron Indoor. I didn’t plan it that way, but life has its way of walking us down a path of irony every now and then. N.E.R.D. was in town with special guest Kid Cudi. I liked N.E.R.D. and had massive amounts of respect for Pharrell, but Cudi was my favorite. Cudi still is one of my all-time favorites, actually. This was the night when I realized how important of a part music would play in my journey for the rest of my life.
I went with the broski Big E. We arrived early because I wasn’t sure how concerts worked or how much traffic there would be or how limited parking was, but mainly because I was stoked. I didn’t have a Kid Cudi shirt, so I wore my N.E.R.D. shirt I got with my cousins in the summer of 2009 at the H&M in the Mall of America. I couldn’t wait. I heard about peers making a hobby of going to concerts, but I wasn't sure if it was all just an overrated past time like drinking or partying. I wanted to find out.
Upon arriving, our tickets were will-call so we had to pick them up from the box office. Walking around campus was incredible. I thought to myself how beautiful it was and how my dad used to roam these walkways in search for knowledge and wisdom some years ago. When we got in Cameron, I not only felt proud to be a Duke fan, but I felt extremely proud of my father. One of his alma maters is Duke, a university rich in heritage and tradition. The retired numbers and the banners. Little did I know they would add 1 more banner, their 4th, less than a week later.
Being the special guest, Cudi came on first. When he came on, I lost it. I couldn’t believe it was him, really him on stage. He sounded exactly how he sounded when I would listen to him driving or in my room alone. Star struck isn’t the right term for how I felt. He did all my favorites—at the time—including Day n’ Nite, Soundtrack to My Life, Cudi Zone, and the David Guetta collab Memories. I was having the time of my life along with 3 thousand other people. Cameron Indoor wasn’t packed to be honest, and it was probably due to Duke being in the Final Four at the time. Later in the night before Cudi left, he decided to perform part of an unreleased song. Damn near 8 years later, I can still hum the song in my head. Some people were born with extreme rhythm and the ability to make infectious melodies; Cudi is one of them. He was meant to be a musician.
N.E.R.D. came to close out the show after. A good number of people left, but E and I decided to stay. After the show, we ran into a few homies on the way out who went to Holly Springs High as well. We took a few pics and agreed Cudi killed it. It was my first concert and definitely wouldn’t be my last. Seeing Cudi that night inspired me to keep writing and to keep expressing myself. It deepened my desire to be a musician no matter how insecure I felt about it at times. He made 3000+ people who’ve felt alone before feel like a family for an hour and a half.
That’s important.