Though Nicolas Vansteenberghe came to Fiji for love, he came to Fred’s for a good time.
On Thursday, Oct. 9, the Love Island finalist — better known as Nic Van to audiences — partied at Fred’s in Tigerland as one of ten stops on his Greekfest tour.
As the Thursday daylight faded to moonlight, anxious excitement filled pregames all around Baton Rouge. Though Fred’s was opening its doors at 8 p.m., Vansteenberghe first had to go to Lafeyette’s NiteTown where doors opened at 7 p.m. Tigerland had no clue when they should be expecting the reality TV star.
Per Vansteenberghe’s Snapchat story earlier on Thursday morning, LSU Basketball had given him a tour of their facilities. Junior Emma Warren shared her frustration about this while waiting for the night to start.
“I think it’s a little silly that he is going to Lafayette and Baton Rouge in the same night because he was at LSU earlier today,” Warren said.
By 9:30 p.m., the crowd began growing denser toward the stage. DJs ALVY, Stutter and Ramii helped alleviate the crowd’s impatience when it was announced at 9:50 p.m. that Vansteenberghe would be arriving soon.
With every beat drop and DJ reaction, phones were quickly whipped out, ready to record. By 10:30 p.m., heads had stopped bopping and annoyed sighs could be heard with each new song played.
As the time went by, guests began discussing what they hoped to get out of the night. Though some were holding out hope for stage appearances by other Love Island cast members, most simply kept their sights set on Vansteenberghe.
“I kind of hope to get a photo with him,” Warren said.
By 11 p.m., the person of the hour had certainly arrived, with excited squeals pointing to his location just behind the front stage.
“Y’all, it’s almost time for Nic,” one MC said at 11:07. “This time, it’s for real.”
At 11:17, the time had finally come. As all of the lights dimmed and a spotlight shone onto the stage, the crowd was at once reinvigorated. With “Skrilla” by Kodak Black playing, Vansteenberghe made his Tigerland debut. Singing and dancing along to the song, he started connecting with the crowd by grabbing various phones to take selfies and videos.
As “Skrilla” blended into “TGIF” by GloRilla, the star popped open a champagne bottle, spraying the crowd with the drink. On the screen behind him were several graphics related to his claim to fame, including the Love Island logo, a loop of his viral “mamacita” line, a photo of the villa and a montage of his time in the show.
Five minutes into his time on stage, Vansteenberghe encouraged the crowd to join him in shouting “baddie baddie shot o’clock,” soon after jumping off the stage to take pictures with fans standing by the barricade. One lended her pink heart-shaped sunglasses to him, which he wore through the duration of Greekfest.
“The funny person you see on screen is the funny person you see in real life,” said sophomore Madden Graffagnini.
On the contrary, junior Emma Stilley wasn’t as amused by the social media personality. “I think he’s as performative offscreen as he was on screen,” Stilley said.
Randomly, Vansteenberghe stopped dancing to show party-goers his phone. On FaceTime was Pepe Garcia, another cast member of Love Island season seven who placed fourth in the show with Iris Kendall.
Various attendees came prepared for the Love Island contestant, some wearing “Mommy’s Little Meatball” shirts in reference to the very one he wore during his time in the villa.
At 11:32 p.m., Vansteenberghe suddenly asked for the music to be cut, reaching for a microphone.
“Do y’all know my friend?” he said. “He has a book club and s—. He really wants to read!”
Prompting the crowd to chant for his fellow islander, Vansteenberghe flipped his phone to show Jeremiah Brown. Brown, who was at the center of an amalgamation of drama in the first half of the season, has since fostered a community of bookworms for followers.
A moment later, Brown was joined by Austin Shepard, another OG member of season seven. The crowd seemed to feed off of each islander that was shown, getting more and more excited each time Vansteenberghe flipped his phone around.
It wasn’t long before he shared the spotlight with Olandria Carthen, his girlfriend whom he met on Love Island.
“It’s the most important guest of the damn night,” Vansteenberghe started, before prompting the crowd to chant “Ola” and facing his phone to the crowd. “Everyone say, ‘Thank you mother ‘landria.’”
Vansteenberghe first found fame this past summer on season seven of Love Island USA, where he finished in second place with Carthen. The couple, known as Nicolandria, blew up on TikTok, now having over 150k posts under the ship name. Following Casa Amor, the two finally coupled up and have since alluded to becoming official, per a TikTok posted by one of the pair’s sponsors, Agua De Kefir.
While shooting content on stage, Vansteenberghe sang along to “Since You Been Gone” by Kelly Clarkson, which has become an LSU classic since being featured in “Pitch Perfect,” filmed on campus.
LSU basketball player PJ Carter joined Vansteenberghe on stage shortly after. “We’re getting that champ this year, we’re getting that championship, baby,” Vansteenberghe said on the men’s basketball season.
After taking a picture with the crowd, Vansteenberghe left the stage to begin the meet and greet section of the night. Compared to other stops during Greekfest, LSU has allegedly been one of the more disorganized VIP experiences, with one guest going back in line after already meeting him.
Just after midnight, American rapper Lil Skies took the stage to perform his own songs well into the night.
With the night coming to a close, many shared that the Greekfest experience was overpriced, especially considering Vasteenberghe’s stage appearance lasting a mere 26 minutes, not including during Lil Skies’ performance.
“It was okay, I guess, but he was only out there for, like, 15 minutes,” one Greekfest attendee said. “Was it worth it? I don’t really think so, but he was definitely there!”
The tickets went on sale on Sept. 23, when Vansteenberghe was announced as the headlining guest for the tour. There were various tiers, including general admission and VIP. The first tier for general admission started at $25, being the lowest cost for the experience overall. As tiers sold out from demand, people were paying upwards of $75.
Though some attendees questioned whether the experience justified the price, few could deny that Vansteenberghe hyped up the energy of Tigerland on a weeknight. From electronic appearances from fellow islanders to champagne showers, the night was energizing, entertaining and endearing. Though brief, Vansteenberghe’s stop by Baton Rouge is one to remember.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source lsureveille.com ’
