Don't Fear the Future: Guster in Concert

So a Guster novice (Jimmy Zha) and a Guster fan (Seth Perlman) both end up at the concert. Here are their versions of the event, retold...

the setting

Jimmy: "The scene played out like an aspiring young adult's nightmare. I was going to my first real taste of the band, and the concert seemed to be attended entirely by teeny-boppers of the Britney variety. And it was Halloween, so a majority of the teens were dressed in costumes, adding a surreal flavor to an already strange night.What were probably hired actors stood outside the venue with sandwich boards proclaiming "America Will Burn" and handing out humorous pamphlets declaring that God does not play the bongos. The theme of the concert I was to discover later was the end of the millennium. I knew that my friend and I, two newcomers to Guster, might as well settle in for the duration."

Seth: "The Orpheum contained all of the usual signs of the apocalypse: a costumed, junk-tossing and young crowd stranger than one would find at the Rocky Horror Picture Show; a countdown to the end of the millennium-cum-doomsday-inspired Y2K electrical blackout; and the three members of Guster--bedecked in black tie---descending to the stage in special chairs while Richard Strauss' "Also Sprach Zarathustra" whipped the crowd into a frenzy."

the crowd

Jimmy: "If you have ever caught a teensploitation at your local neighborhood cineplex, you can probably reproduce the scene in your mind: droves of well-dressed teenage girls scampering around with the excitement of an Energizer bunny, bands of raucous guys in their prep uniforms, worn A&F hat and all, and the occasional older hard-core fan, waiting for their hometown Tufts band to play."

dress sense

Seth: "The tuxedos, while sharp and stylish, seemed to cramp the style of the three happiest men ever to form a band from Somerville."

the audience

Jimmy: "What impressed me the most about the entire night was not necessarily the music, but rather the dynamic between the audience and the band. I gained a certain familiarity with their two mainstays, Barrel of the "Gun and Airport Song," but throughout the set, the audience sang along and echoed with remarkable clarity all the words to the Seth: "The normal amount of bouncing, jumping and frolicking was nowhere to be found; likewise, the audience was not treated to a repeat of Ryan's crowd surfing (to a boisterous rendition of Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline") from this summer's Hatch Shell concert. The Guster experience was incomplete in other ways as well; Ryan's classic Gusterspeak was sporadic and completely inaudible from this reporter's balcony seat.

the concert

Jimmy: "Playing the acoustic Mona Lisa in the large sold-out Orpheum, Miller and Adam Gardner sang softly, almost imperceptible to the ear from our seats in the back right. Yet, when previously balloons were loudly struck and yells exchanged, the hall turned to silence, pure silence. When recognition dawned on the song, a background chorus more perfect than even some professional backup vocals rose from the crowd in harmony to the band. For that stark moment, I wished that I had broken into this cult, and sang along for one clear voice along with everyone else and to a band that produced a unique, but unanticipated special sound."

Seth: "Factor in a pile of cameramen shooting footage of most of the concert in hopes of filming a new video for Barrel of a Gun, a few instances of ear-splitting feedback, problems with the mixing, and a restless crowd that punctuated the acoustic (read: no amplification) encore version of "Mona Lisa" with irreverent shouts, and you have a generally disappointing Guster show. This was my fifth live Guster concert, and I can easily say that it was the least enjoyable. The performance itself had its highs and lows. The setlist consisted of a solid mix of old and new tunes, and the crowd sang along with just about everything. "Great Escape"was full of the usual energy, and Bryan's fleet drumwork was more innovative than usual. The gimmick of a hyperactive, high-speed, truncated version of a song had failed miserably in my first show, in 1998, and it was a dud here on "Perfect." "All the Way Up to Heaven," with its Casio rhythm track and pre-recorded whistles, is a song that does not translate well to live performance, even though the crowd was whistling along. The guest musicians were solid when not left out of the mix entirely (i.e., the cellist whose name I couldn't hear from the balcony). Ryan's bass effect sounded very ill during the downward slide lick on "Fa Fa," unlike the recorded version."

closing time

Jimmy: "By the end of the night, New Year's had passed, and the special quality of the turn of the millennium had ended. My feet were tired from a long night of standing. As my friend and I left, I scanned the crowd once more. They too had lost something; their faces once more became the familiar high-school mix of invincibility and vulnerability."

Seth: "All in all, the G-boys provided solid entertainment, but a multitude of flaws and a dearth of energy marred the show. What will come next for Guster? Will Keezer's sponsor the next tour? We weren't given any new songs on Saturday night; is Guster reaching its creative limit? Will the millennium finally render the video cameras useless and prevent the swarm of cameramen from attacking the band at the next show? Until their next return to town, we can only speculate."