By Ryan Daugherty
Reporter

Every performance at Common Grounds is exciting as inspiring musicians around Baylor performs for the crowd of students that sit in the audience to hear Baylor’s finest. This week will have an even more exciting performance.

Friday, Abilene sophomore Luke Gibson will be performing as well as releasing his first EP titled “Taking Sides”. The EP will have three songs “Let It Be”, “Losing Sight” and “Lights”. It will be available on iTunes shortly after the concert.

Doors open at 8 p.m. and the show will begin at 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $5 and a valid ID and a printed ticket are required to get in. Gibson said he is ready to take the stage and show everyone how hard he has worked.

“I really can’t compare my excitement to much of anything,” he said. “It’s like getting my first guitar all over again.”

Gibson has performed at Common Grounds a number of times and has already released a single, “Lights”.

Lake Jackson junior Ivana Martinez, Gibson’s manager said she expects the show to be a highly entertaining one.

“I think that Luke’s show will be killer,” she said. “The audience will definitely be pleasantly surprised. I think that he will make a connection with the crowd from the get-go and in turn, it will make the experience more enjoyable.”

Gibson will be preluded by three other musicians: Flower Mound freshman Christopher Wells, Denton freshman Lindsey Grigg and Waco sophomore Art Wellborn, who is in the Baylor A Capella Choir with Gibson.

Wellborn, who will perform right before Luke hits the stage, performed at Common Grounds when he was in high school and said he has performed there once a semester since then. He said he is a worship leader and that his musical style is that of gospel.

“First and foremost, I am a worship leader and I mostly write songs geared more for corporate worship in the church,” he said. “I kind of do a little of everything. I can’t deny that God gave me a little soul, so a lot of my music has a gospel/rock feel to it.”

Wellborn said that he prefers to not perform by himself, but with others that share the same or greater talent as he does.

“The secret is to surround yourself with people more talented than yourself,” he said.

Martinez said she put in a whole lot of effort into the business side of Gibson’s EP. She has worked on getting the art and the playing time set up for Gibson.

“I just wanted Luke to know that if he took care of the talent portion, I would take care of the rest,” she said. “That includes finding a graphic designer for the cover art, making sure all the information is correct on the jacket, booking the venue and working with Wes Butler of Common Grounds to get the details lined up for the event.”

Wells is one of Gibson’s close friends and he will be taking the stage along with his girlfriend, Grigg, who attends Dallas Baptist University. Wells said they have performed together for three years since the end of their sophomore year in high school.

“We do perform together as much as we can, but I have performed some alone,” he said. “I sound so much better with her.”

Both Wells and Grigg have recorded songs, which can be found on soundcloud.com. Wells said he enjoys Gibson’s music and is ready for the show to begin.

“We are really excited for Luke,” he said. “I’ve been good friends with him since the beginning of the year and I’ve loved to listen to all his music. I am excited to hear his EP.”

Wells and Grigg will be opening Friday night and Wells said both he and his girlfriend are excited to do so.

“I feel pretty good about opening for the concert,” he said. “Lindsey and I are excited to play some music and have fun and entertain whoever comes out.”

As for Gibson and his EP, people should expect a ton of emotion throughout his songs. Martinez said that people will be able to hear Luke express his feelings through many different vibes.

“It’s all very personal,” she said. “All of the lyrics are laid out in front of the audience and they spell out his emotions, his feelings. All the songs have different vibes to them in terms of being upbeat or more mellow but they all link together through the message he’s trying to convey.”

Gibson said that he didn’t just write his songs to express his thoughts and feelings, but to connect with others who will listen to them as well.

“Nothing I write is just for me, and if it were I would keep it to myself,” he said. “My hope for this EP is that these tunes might correlate with what somebody else is going through. That’s where the real joy is.”