BIG TIME RUSH LIVE!! | WALNUT CREEK
Coverage by Larissa Blankenship
A crowd full of screaming fans welcomed Big Time Rush to the stage at Coastal Credit Union Music Park in Raleigh, NC on July 18th. Big Time Rush began as a Nickelodeon TV show in 2009 starring the actors/band members Kendall Schmidt, James Maslow, Logan Henderson, and Carlos PenaVega. In the show the four actors played fictional versions of themselves from Duluth, Minnesota who were selected to form a boy band in Los Angeles. The show went on to run for four years and included a film that aired on Nickelodeon in 2012. The group went on a hiatus after the show ended in 2013, but the band is now back together and better than ever.
The barricade was packed with excited concert goers holding homemade signs with messages they hoped the band members would see. Some lucky fans even got an up-close and personal experience, standing on the sides of the stage for the first three songs. As part of their In Real Life Worldwide tour the former Nickelodeon boy band brought many of their on screen hits to life. The tour announcement claimed “Every song from every episode” and Big Time Rush sure delivered. The stage was set with multiple raised platforms and ramps, which the members jumped up on during the original theme song of their TV show. At the end of the first song the crowd was showered with confetti and the singers paused under the lights to take it all in before launching into “Windows Down”. The four members performed perfectly executed choreography, jumping off the platforms and ramps, dancing around each other, and rotating positions on the stage depending on who was singing lead. Later in the evening, the band slowed it down and performed multiple acoustic songs on a B stage in the crowd. The show closed out back on the main stage which included a two song encore of “Til I Forget About You” and “Boyfriend”. Big Time Rush proved they can still put on an incredible performance and that their new and longtime fans have much to look forward to in the band's future.
