Despite the pouring, gloomy rain, students still swarmed Lobo’s on Wednesday night for “Lobo’s After Dark,” a student open mic event unexpectedly filled with remarkable talent.

“Lobo’s After Dark” is a new event that takes place every other week on a first come, first serve basis for students to express their musical talent.

There is an unbelievable amount of hidden artistic and musical ability embedded in the Sonoma State campus and this event justifiably reflects the student capability by allowing a non-judgmental, supporting environment.

Not leaving any open seats, students gathered to enjoy time with friends, support the performers, grab a bite to eat and drink beer—only those 21 and over, of course.

Sonoma State sophomore Karina Jade said, “I came to enjoy the live music, but also because a portion of the money made [from food sales] is going to men’s volleyball.”

Jade and her friend Brooke Rossell both said, “I will definitely be coming back, it’s entertaining and a lot of fun.”

The third performance of the night by Gabe Duran and Mike Paradiso started with the song “Feeling Good,” where the two worked well together rhythmically and their experience and talent shined.

The duo met on campus a year ago when Paradiso ran into Duran while he was in the middle of a jam session. Paradiso joined in to create a little performance, which began the start of their musical experience together.

They have played at numerous locations all over Sonoma County, open mic events and other venues to just perform.  “Out of all the open mics that I have personally been to, I have never been to one with so much talent,” said Duran and Paradiso in agreement.

They are coming out with an album within the next month or two called “Awake,” reflecting pop, reggae, indie, but mostly rock with an appeal similar to The Black Keys.

“Music is something we both like to have fun and play around with,” said Paradiso on them not being one type of genre. They both are excited to come enjoy the next “Lobo’s After Dark.”

The amount of people made it hard for the staff to even find the tables and in between one of the acts they had to make an announcement regarding order No. 17’s garlic fries.

Senior Katie McDonagh performed ninth with a ukulele, first performing “Your Song” by Elton John, expressing her gifted voice and musical talent. In between songs she got the crowd cheering loud and laughing.

McDonagh joked around about having a story for her next song. She said she was inspired to cover a personal song by an artist whose concert she attended the previous night, then proceeded to play “We Can’t Stop” by Miley Cyrus.

Sophomore Samantha Basas took the stage after her artistic friend Sebastian Cardona and sang the songs “Gravity” by Sara Bareilles and “When I Was Your Man” by Bruno Mars. Her voice was breathtaking and her changes in the lyrics to Mars’ song were a clever adjustment to grasp the audience’s attention.

For example, instead of the original lyrics, “I should’ve bought you flowers,” she changed it to, “You should’ve bought me flowers.” She really embraced all high notes and expressed the range in her voice.

“Music has always been very important to me and I’ve been performing throughout my entire life because it’s simply a passion,” said Basas.

The amount of talent shown at the event cannot be described by words alone. The next open mic event will be this Wednesday at 8 p.m. where all the talent will gather again.