There were people of all ages, from little children to older generations, listening to Grand Funk Railroad Friday, Sept. 7.
There were so many people there that most of the stands were full, with others sitting in portable chairs and standing in front of the stage. There probably would have been many more people if not for the threat of severe weather or if they knew that the concert had been moved up from 9 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
All of these people were enjoying the music and clapping along while they played.
After Grand Funk Railroad played two or three of their songs, they played “Locomotion.” It was encouraged by the band for the crowd to get up and start moving. That was when everyone stood up where they were and danced. The limited space did not impact the dancing.
After a while, though, the weather began to get worse. While Grand Funk Railroad was playing, people could see that lightning was getting closer and a light rain began. It was about 8 p.m. when David Belote came up on stage and said that due to the weather, mostly the lightning, they had to put the concert on hold while they found out which way the storm would go.
The rain stopped, but the lightning continued and got even closer, with the wind also picking up. Then at 9 p.m., someone came back up on stage and said that the concert was officially cancelled, and then the volunteer police staff went around and told people the same thing.
However, the bad weather did not keep people from enjoying the part of the concert that was put on.
Senior Business major Luke Ownby had been there since the beginning of the concert despite the weather warnings. Even though he could only recognize two of the songs that they played, he had come to listen because his parents loved this particular group and played their songs often. He said that it was nice that big groups like Grand Funk Railroad and Kansas, headliner from last year’s festival, would come to a small town like Martin.
So this group may not have been recognized by all of the generations there, but many of them enjoyed the time spent together and listening to Grand Funk Railroad.
