Ah, the joy of ruined hearing

At the entrance to Dewick-MacPhie, around 12:30 a.m. Tuesday night:

"Hey, that was a great show!"

"WHAT?"

"I SAID, 'GREAT SHOW'!"

"WHAT?"

"Ugh, never mind."

All right, so this conversation didn't actually happen per se, but I am sure the general experience was there for most people _ or those dumb enough to go without earplugs. That's right, guilty as charged. Both The Aaron Katz Band and Virginia Coalition played 90-minute sets, and while assuredly not a huge deal for them, it added up to a solid three hours of rock.

Aaron Katz and company took to the stage right around 9:30 p.m., and didn't leave until the audience was well worn out. The five-piece band mainly played music off Simplest Warrior, the band's first and only album; deftly combining the live, spontaneous feeling of a true jam band with a throbbing bass line. They also delved into a few new songs, which received hearty responses even from the as-yet sparse crowd.

While one Concert Board member said the event had sold close to capacity, the real crowds waited until a bit later to make their appearance. At 9:15 p.m., the number of Concert Board members outweighed the number of paying attendees. Many sat along the walls while The Aaron Katz Band played, bopping their heads but not really joining in the festivities. Despite all that, the crowd thickened throughout the set, possibly won over by Aaron Katz's smooth, catchy voice and the band's killer riffs.

"We had a lot of fun tonight," said Aaron Katz after the show. "I thought the song we opened with, 'In Between the Waves,' went over well, and I felt as though we went over a lot of new material. It was a new crowd, and I think we connected."

I managed to catch up with him in the band's motor home, which will soon carry them across the country on their first nationwide tour.

After a half hour break (no, the ringing in my ears did NOT stop), Virginia Coalition took the stage. Like the Pied Piper of Hamlin, VACO managed to draw everyone, even the late-comers and malingers, up to the verge of the stage.

Several Jumbo VACO fans kept yelling song requests up to the band, and to their credit, the singers chose to play as many as they could. Bassist Jarrett Nicolay had noted that VACO doesn't really do set lists, which made their show easily tailored to the mood of the Tufts crowd.

Andrew Thunder and Steve Dawson switched off on lead vocals, at the same time maintaining a strong repartee with the crowd. At one point, Thunder demanded "your best Boston 'Yee Haw'" from the crowd. Of course, he got just what he asked for.

Though somewhat subdued at first, Thunder and Dawson cajoled the crowd into a veritable frenzy, until there was nary a space left to find your own groove. "I thought Virginia Coalition was awesome," sophomore Heather Decker said. "They had so much energy and were just banging on drums left and right."

By far the most noticeable trait of VACO is their vocals. The Thunder-Dawson duo make for quite the effect. Thunder's smooth baritone and Dawson's slightly nasal vocals (think Mark Hoppus, of Blink 182, without the whine) combine perfectly. I can't put my finger on it, but they harmonize beautifully.

There was a good match up this year: The Aaron Katz Band to get the audience warmed up and excited, then Virginia Coalition to really get them rockin' and rollin'. And just think, if you went to the Fall Rock Show, you got to save the ten bucks more it would cost to go see them at the Paradise or the Middle East, and instead have part of your exorbitant tuition go towards hiring some quality musical acts.