Ben Rector brought a down-to-earth performance to the Great Hall Thursday night.

Ben Rector is a Nashville-based singer songwriter who usually plays with a band. However, on Thursday it was just him and one bandmate. This made the show much more intimate. 

The show seemed to pull Rector and the crowd closer and closer together as it progressed. He showed the audience who he really is and connected with them with every chance he had.

The small scale of the ensemble on stage created an opportunity to really focus on Rector’s talent. His voice is one of the rare ones that sounds the same live as it does recorded. He carries genuine talent without the need for excessive producing.

Although Rector is a talented singer, the highlights of the night came from his lyrics and the personality that came through in the conversation he maintained with the audience between every song. 

After his first song, Rector reminisced about the last time he played a show in Ames opening for another artist. He recalled going to a fan’s house to play cornhole after the show and being surprised it was possible due to the large amount of people who attended the show.

This set up a story-of-life feeling that carried throughout the night and is also part of the way his albums are written. 

The second song, “When a Heart Breaks,” warmed up the crowd and got them singing along. Their voices rose together like an extra member of the band that never existed.

Rector noticed the enthusiasm from his fans and invited them to really join in.

“I don’t want to be presumptuous here, but it seems like some of you know the words,” Rector said. “So sing along… if you want to.”

After the song, he asked for the house lights to be brought up so he could see the crowd. He did this multiple times throughout the show to check in with his audience and to take a short video of the crowd to share online.

The Ben Rector on stage is the real Ben Rector. He brings himself into his music with personal experiences and stories, big and small, which have shaped his life. 

Rector has a very human quality that means his live performance is a little piece of what his life is at the time.

“If I seem kind of scattered, I recently had my first child,” Rector said to a round of genuine cheers. “I’m dealing with love and pride, but I’m also super tired.”

The humor that he used to make light of a significant subject came through again when he improvised a verse about saving the bees, a suggestion he took from a member of the crowd. 

Rector’s onstage personality is also the personality he shows online. 

“It makes it easier to connect because you see him on social media, but then he’s there in person too,” said Abigail Miller, a sophomore in marketing.

The night felt like it was about a musician and group of fans just getting to know each other. There was humor, sadness, nostalgia, joy, sincerity and everything between. The combination of raw emotion and talent makes Rector’s music and performance what they are.

“He’s so real,” said Kaitlyn Pearce, juinior in kinesiology. “It’s everything. You can jam to it but it’s also so relatable.”

The thing about artists like Rector that seems to draw people in is their ability to capture the most fundamental emotions of life that everyone experiences even though their lives are so much different than others. Fans can connect to a real person that understands what they are going through.

“He just talks like he’s a normal person and you’re a normal person,” Miller said. “He’s so much more than a normal person.”