“Who is Gusher?”
That was my first question upon hearing of our spring semester act: Guster. I wasn’t going to attempt to pretend that I knew who this band was, or where they hailed from. After hearing that Hootie and the Blowfish was here last semester, I was just expecting this to be another band from yesteryear.
Beforehand, at a small champagne party I held, I was introduced to some new friends—very bubbly east coasters. They assertively reported that Guster was quite illustrious in New Jersey. I suppose it isn’t so much of a surprise to learn of things that are quite foreign to the average Midwesterner are in actuality, fairly well-known in the rest of the country. We’re not exactly in the “know,” as some might say. This gave me some sense of confidence in the selection of the Senior Council Activities Committee, as I do have a fine appreciation for all things New England. Regardless of the advice, I went ahead and just arrived belatedly to the concert, as it tends to be my habit for National Acts.
The first thing I noticed, the closer we go to the concert, was that people were wearing stickers proudly claiming that they’re carbon-friendly. Having taken chemistry, I hope the people wearing them are carbon-friendly. I found the source of these stickers, just outside of Chadwick. There was a group handing out a drink called “shift.”
Although I’m not a card-carrying ecologically friendly tree hugging health nut environmentalist, the drinks were good enough. “Organic,” they call it. By the end of the night, I managed to procure quite a collection of these fine health beverages. (I also discovered they’re reasonably effective at fighting a hangover.)
The drinks were part of a campaign called Reverb, which is an organization that was founded by Guster’s guitarist and vocalist Adam Gardner and his wife Lauren Suillivan. The goal of the organization is, among other things, to “green,” as they call it, artists on-the-road performances. This is essentially to make the tours done by major artists more ecologically friendly. Other than that, Reverb is the major sponsor of the Campus Consciousness Tour, which organizes community-wide events the day of the concert, such as food drives and education seminars (town hall meetings and alternative transportation options, for example).
Upon entering the concert, I instantly noticed that the band seemed to have amassed quite a crowd—filling Chadwick court nicely. Although, chatting with Chandler Troy, the SCAC chairman, I learned that the number of the turnout was less than Hootie and the Blowfish. I find that a little ironic, that even though the committee caught considerably more disparagement for putting on the 90’s band, it gathered a great deal more revenue than Guster. That goes to show the hard work of an SCAC chairman: you just can’t please everyone.
Due to my perpetual lateness, I did catch just the end of the opening act, The Format. I’m rather ashamed to admit that I was vaguely familiar with The Format by appearing on the MTV show Laguna Beach. The songs “Wait, Wait, Wait,” and “The First Single” were featured on the MTV docu-drama. I found out later that they played briefly for a birthday party on that show we all love to hate, My Super Sweet Sixteen. It was good seeing them play for our Super Sweet National Act.
After a short intermission, the band took to the stage. Under the semblance of an astounding light show, they played their top-25 hit, “Amsterdam” to the crowd’s delight and accompaniment. It was also pleasing to hear a swinging cover of Ary Barroso's 1939 classic "Aquarela do Brasil," which got the crowd swinging to the strains of the Samba-exaltação. Another mellower piece was “Keep It Together,” bearing a slightly hipper Simon & Garfunkel-esque tune, as heard on the now-defunct program, The O.C.
Talking with Ted Zimmer, a FIJI Guster fan and east coaster himself, affirmed that the night was a massive success. “I thought it was an amazing performance. They mixed their old and new material very nicely,” he told me. The only question that remains is if it can be surpassed by next year’s performance. Rumor has it that relatively big names are in the works by the SCAC. “If everything falls into place,” Troy mentioned to me, “next semester’s act will be the biggest this college has ever seen.” I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed, gushing with anticipation.