Guests deliver powerful show, Jay Z

Jay-Z's early in performance Friday night, he made a reference to this weekend's Penn State game against Eastern Illinois.
"On my way here, I bumped into a couple of people from Eastern Illinois who were talking about a big game tomorrow," Jay-Z said to a booing conference. "I don't know how you feel about that, but if you run this town, make some noise."
He then led the crowd in a chant of "na na na na, hey hey hey, goodbye," before his 10 piece band burst into a horn and guitar heavy rendition of "D.O.A. (Death of Autotune)."
The performer started the evening by ascending to center stage through a trapdoor, where The Hov welcomed his disciples, who nearly filled the Bryce Jordan Center.
With the BJC as the first stop on his tour, the performer began with a one two punch of "Run This Town" and "D.O.A. (Death of Autotune)," taking control early and dwarfing the crowd reaction from openers N.E.R.D. and Wale.
Lasting about an hour, the set featuring hits from throughout his career and a handful of new songs from his latest album, The Blueprint 3.
About halfway through the set, Bridget Kelly, one of Jay-Z's latest Roc Nation signees, appeared on the stage and sang backup for a few songs, including "Heart of the City (Ain't No Love)" and Alicia Keys' part on "Empire State of Mind."
Pharrell Williams and Roc Nation performer J. Cole also took the stage to perform their respective guest spots from Jay-Z's latest album.
After the set, amid a wave of applause and "We are Penn State" chants, Jay-Z's voice was heard amid the dark arena. "Thank you," he said simply, before returning to the stage to perform the song of the same name.
A rather hefty encore followed, featuring a cluster of brief one verse renditions of four songs as well as a number of full songs.
About 30 seconds into "Big Pimpin'," Jay stopped the band, saying that the song couldn't just be performed any old way.
"I've been working hard all night," he said. "You all need to participate a little." He then commanded the audience to swing T-shirts, hoodies or whatever they had in the air.
Jay-Z with the night ended taking off his sunglasses and personally thanking conference members for their energy throughout the night. Over a slow, jazzy version of "Encore" by his band, individual people he thanked, describing conference members who had been dancing and "holding him down" throughout the performance. The rapper even gave away his black Yankees cap and let one girl in the audience come on stage and sing a few lines for the arena.
"I thought it was an awesome show," said Christopher Alphen (junior-sociology). "It's great that a big name like Jay-Z could come here."
Before Jay-Z's set, N.E.R.D. came onstage and played a handful of its blended rap, funk and rock hits. The group's backing band at one point began playing The White Stripe's "Seven Nation Army," cueing the audience to hum along as if the Blue Band were onstage.
Nicole Simpson, a native of Bronx, N.Y., who traveled out with her friends to look the concert, thought N.E.R.D.'s song selection could have been improved upon.
She said, "I thought the openers could have been a little better, but when Jay-Z came on, we forgot about all that"

J. Cole and Wale had brief sets as well, though the crowd was still filing in during these performances and venue lights were still on.
Wale's backing band performed a few covers, ripping through versions of Justice's "D.A.N.C.E." and Nirvana's "Smells like Teen Spirit."
Wale showed some love for his surroundings, changing the lyrics of his signature song from "D.C. Chillin' " to "Penn State Chillin.' "
"Wale was obviously my favorite," Alphen said. "He showed some passion and really got the show started -- by the time Jay-Z came out, everyone was riled up."