Guster & Owsley
By: Jeff Leisawitz - ModernRock.com
Seattle is not a rock friendly city when it comes to underage shows. There are tons of laws, restrictions and ordinances that make promoting a concert for teens very difficult. It's possible to pull it off, but chances are good there won't be any money left over to pay the bills. And that tends to discourage would-be promoters.
Instead of chasing the buck, local rock station KNDD and online retailer Food.com teamed up to sponsor a charity show. Bring a can of food, get in for five bucks. That's a pretty good deal. Especially when the music is coming from two of the most underrated pop acts today- Guster and Owsley.
The booze was locked down tight for the seven o'clock start time. Owsley took the stage with a quiet demeanor that did not exactly scream 'rock star!' But appearances can fool you. This guy and his band shot into music from the self titled debut album. Happyjack pop melodies and Beatlesque bass lines laid the foundation. Owsley rocked 'em good, with hard ass guitar heroics in the spaces.
The opener closed the set with a cover of the Who classic, "Won't Get Fooled Again." This was the icing. The kids bobbed in time but few of them realized that this was one of rock's greatest anthems. (If I were in charge, every teenager on the planet would do a solid year of classic rock radio.)
For the most part, the crowd was gathered to hear Guster- three guys from Boston who might just as easily have been busking on a subway platform. With acoustic and electric guitars, no bass and a maniac drummer who plays a percussion kit (including cymbals!) with his hands, Guster's line-up is not exactly millennium compatible. But it made no difference to this crowd.
Being the final stop on the trio's tour, Ryan, the main singer/guitarist, informed the room that they would be 'pulling out the stops.' And pull out they did. With sweet harmonies, humor and negative distortion, these neo-hippies cruised through album favorites like "What You Wish For", "Center of Attention" and the radio hit, "Barrel of a Gun."
Between songs there were one liners, short stories of rock 'n roll mayhem, and passing glances directed towards the dreamy eyed teenage girls in the front row. There were also a couple of cover songs in the set including an intentionally massacred version of the Beach Boys' "Kokomo" and the 60s classic, "California Dreaming."
At the end of the night everybody was all smiles. Both bands rocked, there was plenty of food in the truck and the club owners still had the Saturday night crowd lined up to fork over the big bucks.
For Guster and Owsley, the gig was up. The tour was complete. And it was still only nine o'clock.
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