Jon Batiste certainly knows how to put on a traveling show.
The award-winning jazzman wowed the crowd with his performance and encore on Oct. 22 at Mershon Auditorium at the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, but the show wasn’t over when the lights came up.
Afterward, Batiste and his band came out to the lobby of the venue for a post-show performance, much to the surprised delight of concertgoers.
He continued to play as he moved back inside the auditorium, ending the impromptu mini-concert after several minutes. Batiste stayed briefly to greet and chat with about 70 fans who had followed him, according to theater manager Nathan Sims.
Batiste’s bonus performance was no surprise to Mershon staff, who had been informed that the multi-instrumentalist would be playing post-encore. However, the route he took wasn’t the one originally planned.
“He was going to take it up into the balcony, but when he got to the lobby, people were already coming down the stairs, so he played there,” Sims said.
“People were thrilled, absolutely ecstatic. There were singing along, and I can’t tell you the number of cameras that were out. It was a very electric moment.”
As Sims was passing by, he said he heard an audience member remark, “You don’t see that every day!”
That sentiment was echoed by a Mershon Auditorium security guard, who marveled at the Louisiana-born Batiste’s actions, saying, “I’ve never seen anything like that.”
Among the crowd — which Sims estimated at about 2,000 attendees — was retired Columbus City Schools art teacher Lynne Prillerman, who said tickets to Batiste’s show were her 75th birthday gift to herself.
“God has gifted him so good, there are no words to describe him” she said.
Batiste gives the impression of an artist who genuinely enjoys engaging with his audience, Sims said.
“He seems to live in the moment. Whatever inspires him, he goes with that and wants to embrace it to the fullest. Columbus got to enjoy and experience that,” he said.
Dispatch photojournalist Doral Chenoweth contributed to this story.
Contact features, entertainment and things to do reporter Belinda M. Paschal at bpaschal@dispatch.com.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Jazzman Jon Batiste surprises Mershon Auditorium crowd with post-concert show
Reporting by Belinda M. Paschal and Doral Chenoweth, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
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