Brotherly love, dutiful hand bobbing and ecstatic dancing pervaded Cousens Gym's Carzo Cage on Saturday night. Tufts students spanning varying levels of sobriety tottered through the New England dark to witness the performance of growing indie−pop icons Matt & Kim and their supporting group, Tufts alumni Timeflies, as they tore it down for Tufts' annual Cage Rage.
After wading through the scrupulous security of metal detectors and security guards, this reporter was given audience to an event of considerable sociological and musical significance. The strobe−lit, smoke−filled air of Carzo Cage was tinged with an air of adolescent anticipation as growing masses of expectant Tufts students filled the space.
"I've never been to a legit concert, so this is a good plunge for me. I'm looking forward to Timeflies. I've heard they're Tufts alums, so it'll be good to see them coming back. I've heard Matt & Kim are the real deal," said Tufts junior David Gertner.
Once the show began, the tense air of the gym exploded. Cal Shapiro (LA '11) and Rob Resnick (E '11) strode onstage with the confident air of seasoned performers despite their relative newness to showbiz — the duo only graduated from Tufts last spring. The crowd was quickly grooving to the music of Timeflies, which was mostly provided by the duo's laptop. As edgy synth bass lines and familiar chords oozed out of the speakers, the duo traded lines and sang full−tilt over their electronic backing tracks.
"Tufts — it feels good to be home!" cheered Shapiro as he bounced about the stage with the cheerful exuberance of a Pilates instructor. The crowd responded with equal vigor as particularly enthusiastic dancers moved to the periphery of the crowd, where they would have enough space to fully flaunt their skills.
Shapiro and Resnick soulfully crooned lines of their most popular songs like "Turn It Up." The pair's choice to include identical, pre−recorded vocals in the backing tracks of their music established a strange dynamic that made distinguishing between live and recorded vocals somewhat difficult.
There was an unexpected visitor on stage throughout Timeflies' performance — a sweater−clad man whose only discernible purpose was to record the audience's behavior with his camera phone. When Shapiro beckoned the audience to record a song on their own camera phones, the concert became an unexpected postmodern tableau, as audience members recorded a man recording them videotaping the performance.
By the time Matt & Kim mounted the stage, the audience was craving even more tunes. The music piped in during the intermission elicited the same passionate dancing that Timeflies produced. The crowd needed more. Matt & Kim dutifully responded, delivering an electric performance that stunned the audience with its nuance and bravado.
Matt & Kim opened their set with Europe's synth−driven classic "The Final Countdown," which powered up the already bumping crowd. The athletic grit of the song's melody, coupled with Kim's catchy percussion, gave the audience what it needed to truly let loose.
As leagues of dancing youths swayed their hands and bounced to the beat, it became evident that this concert was a resounding success. Carzo Cage was surprisingly well−suited to the task. The acoustics fully accommodated the subtlest details of the performances — from the gravelly bass lines of Timeflies to the crunchy synth lines of Matt & Kim.
Those who were lucky enough to attend this fall's Cage Rage concert were given a night worth remembering. Though the tickets cost $15 for Tufts students, the memories are priceless.
