Colossus 2016: NICK OFFERMAN

Colossus. 2016. Nick. Offerman.

I’ve been hearing rumors of Colossus since  I attended Orientation Week  before freshman year. I heard raging reviews of a huge concert and comedian combo in Gentile Arena. They told me about the super cheap student tickets, which meant the show was usually sold out. And I learned that the reveal party was almost as exciting as the show itself.

And this weekend I finally got to attend my first Colossus. My freshman year ((dop))–Loyola’s student-run Department of Programming– invited Kesha and Mike Birbiglia to perform. Because I didn’t actually know who Mike Birbiglia was, I decided to only go see Kesha. Just a few weeks later Kesha had to cancel her performance due to personal issues. Luckily, I hadn’t invested in any glittery attire so I was just out a Colossus experience. My sophomore year I spent the spring semester studying abroad at Loyola’s John Felice Rome Center, which meant I invested in gelato instead of tickets to Colossus.

Now here I am, a junior, finally able to attend my first Colossus. The performers: Kesha and Nick Offerman. Upon hearing the performer announcement I was more than happy to invest in Nick Offerman tickets, because who wouldn’t want to pass up a night with Ron Swanson? Admittedly, I was on the fence about purchasing tickets for Kesha’s highly anticipated reappearance in the Colossus line-up. I would’ve been happy to go, but in the end it didn’t matter because Kesha had to cancel her performance. I feel so bad for the drama this pop star has been dealing with and completely understand why she couldn’t perform at LUC.

I had only ever seen Nick Offerman perform in his hilarious role as Ron Swanson on the TV show “Parks and Recreation”, so I had no idea what to expect from him as a stand-up comedian. And he was certainly…unexpected. His first joke was about how Loyola had asked him to keep his show PG-13, but as he explained, he simply could not be kept to a PG-13 level. So the first bit of his show didn’t offer much that I can share.

What I didn’t realize about Nick Offerman was his ability to play guitar and sing. He was no Kesha, but still quite funny. My favorites were his songs about how much he dislikes Facebook and how much he loves America, and of course his song, “I’m Not Ron Swanson”. I’d say that he hit it off with the sold-out Loyola crowd, who were happy to have a wild card like him on campus.

I’m definitely satisfied with my first round of Colosuss. But here’s to hoping that next year I can have the full-blown Colossus experience I’ve been hearing about since 2013.