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Guster |
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Written by Robin Sacher
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Tuesday, 27 February 2007 |
Murat Egyptian Room, Indianapolis, IN
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Not rain, nor sleet, nor snow, nor the NFL Scouting Combine a few blocks away could keep Guster fans from filling the Murat Egyptian room, making it Indy’s first-ever sold-out Guster show. Lead vocalist/guitarist Ryan Miller lauded this accomplishment by informing the crowd that they had “made the Egyptian room [their] bitch.”
Miller showed his appreciation by reminding the audience that they “persevered” through the inclement weather, and the entire band thanked the audience by performing one of the most energetic, fulfilling shows that I have witnessed in all of my Guster-following years. Not only did instrumentation vary frequently throughout the evening, but instrument switches were commonplace. Joe Pisapia, notorious for his ability to play an innumerable quantity of instruments (and according to Miller, had been “shredding the shit out of the guitar” during “Captain,”) was not the only one who displayed his musical expertise. Miller boasted his harmonica talents during “One Man Wrecking Machine” as well as his drumming aptitude during the closing number, a not-so-melodic cover of the Four Non-Blondes infamous tune, “What’s Up.” During this portion of the show, drummer Brian Rosenworcel, who had not uttered a word during the entire performance, took center stage for a discordant tribute to a guilty pleasure song that, at least for me, resuscitated many formerly repressed high school memories.
Vocalist/guitarist Adam Gardner displayed his trumpet-playing aptitude during “Demons,” as well as during the band’s increasingly more common cover performance of “Brazil,” a song that according to the band’s website was written in 1939 and originally titled “Aquarela do Brasil.” Miller hoped the tune would remind the audience of “palm trees, sand and a type of fish that the band leader noted cooks itself without heat, in lime juice. (We Guster loyalists thank Ryan for that little anecdote, as I’m sure many of us have already Googled this local delicacy in hopes of finding it at a local Brazilian restaurant.)
While the rest of us were still dancing and singing, hours away from crawling into bed, we rejoiced in the powerful set list, interspersed with Miller’s anecdotes. My personal favorite was the singer’s report that the band passes their time on the tour bus playing their new Nintendo Wii, not “doing blow off of whores’ titties,” as apparently some fans assume they do. (Immediately following this comment, Miller accidentally repeated the lyrics “passing ‘round a skinny joint” during “One Man Wrecking Machine.”)
Guster has a healthy disdain for the trite ritual of walking off the stage towards the end of the show so the crowd can scream at the top of their lungs, in anticipation of the band’s return. As he frequently does, Miller announced that the band was going to walk off the stage (which they didn’t). The band then played a few more favorites, such as “Lightning Rod” and “Demons. (They did actually exit the stage before returning for their final performance of the evening – the hilarious rendition of the Four Non-Blondes’ number, but no one seemed the least bit disappointed in their actions.) For this particular evening’s “encore,” Miller requested that everyone move up and down with the high and low notes that the band improvised. So, at the singer’s command, we all complied – willing to do whatever the man requested of us.
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August 2 0 0 8
(on newsstands now)
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