Music began playing and members of rock band We The Kings walked onto the stage, smiling and waving with their instruments in hand. At this point, the crowd was going wild.  

Presented by the University Activities Board, We the Kings performed at Wharton Center this past Sunday, a show that was very audience interactive. Lead vocalist Travis Clark encouraged audience members to jump and dance around to the music. Despite the limited space, fans excitedly obliged.

There was another point where lead guitarist Hunter Thomsen joined the audience during a song because of technical difficulties with his amp. Fans greeted him joyfully with hugs and picture requests.

This show was just one of many college shows performed by We The Kings. Clark said the band has been doing them for a month or so, and has another month or two of them to go.

“This is a different type of experience in college," he said. "You go and you get to see kind of yourself in the fans that are coming to the shows because they’re excited about life, and as are you, but it’s like you feel almost like you’ve grown and you’re wiser but then we learn stuff from them, it’s really coo."

Lead bassist Charles Trippy said another great thing about the college shows is the extra revenue brought in.

“I mean obviously money becomes an issue with any band because you can’t go overseas, you can’t record an album, we can’t do that (without money), so these college shows are very helpful in that aspect to help bring the band a little extra money so we can continue coming out and doing shows,” he said.

Trippy said he can relate to the students who come out to the college concerts, as he recalls being in college and seeing bands, such as Weezer, brought in by the school. He said it’s cool to be on the other side of that and to be a part of the band everybody’s coming to see.

Trippy is the only member of the band that went to college; he majored in marketing at University of South Florida. He said college for him was about making mistakes, to an extent, and finding yourself along the way.

Clark said he imagines the best part about college is the excitement of what’s to come in life, as people go to college to excel their lives and find out who they want to be.

“I think people between the ages of 18 and 22, like that prime four years of college, you really change what you love about life, what you don’t like...with the band being outside of college, it’s those same things. We’re learning, not from a textbook, but from real life encounters,” he said.