As I’m sure everyone already knows by now, Student Government recently announced that rapper Wiz Khalifa will be coming to Grand Forks and that students had the opportunity to get free tickets to the event. I’m excited this will be a great experience for students of UND.

While not everyone is equally excited that the performer is Wiz Khalifa, at the very least, you have to acknowledge how cool it is for an artist as big as Wiz to come to Grand Forks. Not to say we don’t get some good shows here in Grand Forks, but not very many big artists pass through here while on tour.

Usually, if we’re lucky, we have the opportunity to drive an hour south to Fargo to see performers on tour, two and a half hours north to Winnipeg or 5 hours east to the Twin Cities.

Furthermore, everyone has a different taste in music, so there isn’t going to be one performer that pleases everyone. But with free tickets, there’s really nothing to lose by going to the show.

Personally, I’m excited to see Wiz Khalifa perform. Although I haven’t listened to much of his music recently, I experimented with Wiz a little more back in high school and went to one of his concerts in 2010, right before he became really famous in 2011 with the release of “Black and Yellow.”

I can say he’s a great performer and puts a lot of energy into his shows. Even if you aren’t the biggest fan of his music, you might still enjoy the experience of being at one of his concerts.

I think this concert will be a great way of bringing the whole campus together for something to get excited about. Immediately after the announcement he was coming, you could already feel the energy and excitement on campus. I was surprised how many people were lined up outside the Student Government office so early in the morning to get their tickets, and I heard people talking about it in class all day long.

With all the dramatic talk recently about issues with the library, rising tuition, allegations of racism and everything else, it’s nice we all have something common — and something good — to rally around for a change.

This will be a nice way to end the year and enjoy ourselves right before the stress of finals week, so lets all get together and end this year on a high note.

Larry Philbin is the managing/news editor at The Dakota Student. He can be reached at [email protected].