Life > March 29, 2007

By Dave Chace

Senior writer

Guster took the stage in Wait Chapel on March 28, giving university students one of the best performances they’ve had the opportunity to hear in the past several years. 

While the band has been around for at least a decade, they’ve managed to remain current and delivered a perfect blend of their older classics from the audience’s middle school days and their newer releases from their newest album, Ganging Up on the Sun.

Where often-mellow Guster delivered a clean, poised performance, their opening band The Format took it upon themselves to energize the crowd.  Playing nine songs, highlighted by their recent, appropriately named hit “The First Single,” The Format’s six members bounced around the cramped stage as best they could. 

Unlike “The First Single,” many of the band’s songs followed a steadier, bouncier pattern — drawing one to view them as an emo/pop mesh beween OK Go and New Found Glory. Lead singer Ryan Miller opened up the show by reading his favorite facts about the university.

“I looked up Wake Forest University on Wikipedia,” Miller said, “and this is what I learned: you have a lunch room called the Pit.  And, you hate the food.”  Luckily, Miller learned of the university’s dining alternatives. “There’s also a Chick-Fil-A on campus.  That is awesome. That’s my favorite fact.”

Guster hit the stage, presenting themselves as the professionals.  Where as The Format relied heavily on strong chords and fast rhythms, Guster had the crowd hooked on their much more musical performance by the third song.

Miller got the crowd into the performance between sets by referencing the band’s previous trip to the university (“…when you guys were, like, nine”). 

Recalling the “upside down sombrero-thing” hanging from the ceiling of Wait Chapel (actually an acoustic design feature of the chapel), Guster played a short, Latin-flavored, unreleased track titled “Brazil” in its honor.

The difference between Guster’s newer songs and older hits is even more glaring on stage than it is on their albums.  Drummer Brian Rosenworcel ruled the show during performances of “Center of Attention,” “Barrel of a Gun” and “Fa Fa”, all from their 1999 album, Lost and Gone Forever, beating his elaborate drum set of bongos and toms with nothing but his bare hands. 

The sight of Rosenworcel flailing around as he produced the strong, unique rhythms that Guster has been known for was mesmerizing to the audience and contrasted well against the three other band members who barely moved during their performances.

These original Guster songs made the concert exciting for an audience who grew up hearing them on the radio.  Of their newer songs, only the singles “Amsterdam” and “Satellite,” from Keep it Together and Ganging Up on the Sun, respectively, seemed to draw much crowd recognition. 

More so, these two songs, along with others such as the slow-but-steady “One Man Wrecking Machine,” hardly drew the same excitement from the crowd, which can almost be absolutely related to the fact that Rosenworcel left his bongos to take a seat behind a traditional drum set. 

The only disappointment, after all is said and done, was the arrangement of Guster’s set list. 

While the band has made several recognizable hits over the years, it took them until the ninth song to hit the first of any of their (arguably) top 10 — “Amsterdam,” released in 2003. 

Whereas The Format hit “The First Single” on their second song, Guster seemed to save all of their hits for final few numbers.  A little pain could’ve been spared during the show’s uneventful middle section if something more well-known had been thrown into the mix. 

In Guster’s defense, however, the audience was certainly treated with a finale well-worth the wait — climaxed by a performance of “Fa Fa” that put the song’s studio recorded version to shame.  After playing a total of 15 songs, Guster remained on stage for a four-song encore, which, despite a slow start, hit a peak with one more of their classics, “Happier.” 

Their final song was a near-religious experience, as lead singer Miller requested complete silence from the audience in order for the four band members to perform their finale, acoustic ballad, “Jesus on the Radio,” completely unplugged.  The dead-silent Wait Chapel said all that needs to be said for the audience’s appreciation of the show.