Review: Jingleball the way

Old and new artists hit the stage at the Xcel Energy Center for KDWB’s annual holiday concert

Eight popular artists, of varying ages and styles, traveled from around the world to St. Paul, Minnesota.

Loud bass and screaming fans filled the Xcel Energy Center at KDWB’s Jingleball Concert on Tues. Dec 4. This year, Jingleball incorporated both young, fresh artists, such as Cher Llyod, and more experienced, established artists, such as OneRepublic and Train.

20-year-old British artist Conor Maynard opened the concert. His high energy was a great start to the event and got fans on their feet screaming from the beginning. He appeared comfortable on stage and didn’t seem nervous by the 15,000 plus crowd he was performing for. KDWB generally begins the concert with the smaller artists and puts the more popular and desired artists towards the end. As the first performer, Maynard sang and moved well on stage and was a great start to the concert.

Next, another British artist, Ellie Goulding. Unlike their usual pattern, KDWB had planned to save Goulding for the end of the show, but she had to catch a plane back to London. Easily, she was one of the most talented performers attending the event. Her voice was very melodic and her range, spectacular. She implemented synthesizers into her performance adding a truly amazing effect. A quarter of the way through her most popular and closing song, “Lights” something happened on stage and suddenly, the music stopped. Not wanting to disappoint, Goulding performed the acoustic version of “Lights” and the crowd went wild.

With established and talented artist Ellie Goulding performing early in the concert, it would be a tough act for new performer Cher Lloyd to follow. Llyod hadn’t performed in front of a crowd as large as the one at Jingleball and it showed. She appeared slightly uncomfortable and her voice was a little wobbly.

The last five performances were spectacular. Owl City re-energized the crowd and they set up one of the most popular artists there, Ed Sheeran. All he had was a guitar, no pick, a microphone, and a pedal, which loops his music to make beats and rhythms. He was a one-man band. Truly amazing.

The next two bands OneRepublic and Train really were the highlight of the event. They both interacted with the crowd and performed as if they had been doing it their entire lives. They were relaxed and confident and made the crowd want to be there.

Finally, the Korean singer PSY closed the show. He performed his American hit, “Gangnam Style” twice and was a huge crowd pleaser.

Overall, this year’s Jingleball was a huge success. New and talented artists had great performances and established artists lived up to expectations.

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