Campus Center Hosts Guster at Big Bridges
By Stephanie Lawton
Staff Writer

About a month ago, I coerced two friends into spending the night outside the ASPC office with me. As a reward for our efforts, we got to watch "Empire Records" and "Friends" until 8 am, appeared in the Security Briefs without being intoxicated, and bought the first six tickets for the April 6 Guster show.

For those of you wondering, "Who the heck is Guster?" the band consists of three guys who met at Tufts University ("The CMC of the East"). Although their names are Adam, Ryan, and Brian, they called themselves "Gus" until some guy using that name signed with a record label, beating them to the punch.

And so Guster was born. The band's overall sound is a folksy pop-rock, which some concert-goers compared to Dispatch and Matchbox 20, but with more emphasis on percussion.

As if my academic reputation hadn't been damaged enough by my impromptu midweek all-nighter, the concert took place on a Sunday night, when I'm sure the rest of the campus was hard at work. Such is my devotion to Guster that I arrived during the opening act, although I did miss the soundcheck, which, my sources tell me, was executed flawlessly.

I may have mentioned earlier that I was the first person in line for tickets. This means that, in order to better identify me as a shameless groupie and potentially desperate stalker, the security guard at the front of the stage provided me with a stylish neon green bracelet before allowing me to proceed to my seat in front of the stage. There I found a few similarly adorned Guster fans.

Onstage was a woman named Annie Stela, whose Fiona Apple-esque songs served as a relaxing contrast to the music to come. Unfortunately for me, my front row seat proved in this case to be detrimental, as I spent most of her performance watching the reflection of Stela's head in the top of the piano. Overall, her music was appealing and sweet, though ultimately forgettable.

Next up was Maroon5, whose dynamic stage presence jarred the audience out of their seats (well, that, and Adam, the lead singer, yelling for everyone to stand up). To my surprise, there were, in fact, five of them: Adam Levine, Ryan Dusick, Jesse Carmichael, James Valentine, and Mickey Madden. Which names like those, who wouldn't be excited?

Much of the crowd's energy came from their loyal fans, and according to Natalie Klein '04, who ushered at the show, "There was a huge contingent of Maroon5 fans that left before Guster even came on. That was unexpected."

I can attest to die-hard nature of these fans, having found myself next to several girls wearing homemade t-shirts who appeared to know every word of every song played. I couldn't help but notice that Adam, the lead singer, and James on lead guitar were doing that thing that guys in bands seem to enjoy, playing their guitars from about 3 inches away from each other. I like to refer to this phenomenon as "guitar sex," and all I have to say is, it was hot.

Beginning with "This Love," and playing a solid set of songs from their new album, "Songs About Jane," Maroon5 "rocked bigger and harder than Guster," according to Steve Wylie '04. They ended with a cover of Nine Inch Nails's "Closer" which Wylie felt "added something new and interesting" to the song. He concluded, "I'd never heard of them before, but I'll probably download some of their songs now." For my part, I took Adam's throat spray when they left the stage. I'm positive he wanted me to have it-he left it about six inches from my hands.

But enough about Maroon5. I was here to see Guster. While the stage was being rearranged, security came by to make everyone go back to their seats, and to check that none of us up front had lost our bracelets. I cheerfully returned to my spot by the stage and tested my eyesight by trying to read the setlists taped to the floor. Soon enough, my wait was over.

The guys started off with "Barrel of a Gun," which is probably their best-known song-upbeat and energetic. It's a little too poppy for my tastes, but the audience seemed to like it. They moved into some slightly more mellow songs, including an extended version of "Demons," off their 1996 album Goldfly.

Overall, the band kept the energy high all night. Brian, on various kinds of drums, managed to keep the focus on the crowd, thanks mainly to his wildly flailing limbs (picture Curious George on speed). While his facial expressions would, in other circumstances, be grounds for calling the paramedics, there's no denying the man can play. For his more involved solos, he was lit only by a potentially seizure-inducing strobe light, thus intensifying the crazed monkey effect. In addition to songs from their three existing albums, including Lost and Gone Forever, my personal favorite, the band played several songs off their new album, Keep It Together scheduled for release in June.

The one hitch in an otherwise fun-filled night occurred during Guster's encore, when the band announced that, as a special treat, they were bringing out another band whom they announced as The Cure to play with them for their last song. As you can imagine, the crowd's excitement peaked; however, exhilaration turned to confusion as the band that emerged looked nothing like The Cure.

The two bands played "Boys Don't Cry," a well known Cure song, and while their energy was infectious, it didn't live up to the standards Guster has set with past covers. As I'm sure most people who attended the concert eventually realized, the band that dropped by to play this song was The Barenaked Ladies, for whom Guster opened in their early days.

While it was exciting to see the two bands together on stage, I felt that the confusion over who was actually there detracted from the experience significantly. While admittedly The Cure looks nothing like The Barenaked Ladies, Guster may have overestimated the age of their crowd in this case. Sorry guys, but the 80s are long gone.