While Guster is sure to deliver a crowd-pleasing set at this year's Spring Fling, this past weekend the group of Tufts alumni treated fans to a unique and energetic performance as they closed their acoustic tour at the Paramount Theater in Boston. Billed as "Guster and Jeff Garlin Present a Night of Acoustic Music and Comedy," Saturday's concert deftly combined music and comedy in the intimate setting of the 550-seat theater.
While the pairing of the band with Garlin (of "Curb Your Enthusiasm" fame) may seem odd at first, his brand of comedy blended well with the comedic sensibilities present in the group's live shows. Following a short opening set by comedian Mat Edgar, Garlin delivered a 45-minute stand-up set that was heavy on crude humor and audience participation. At the end of his set, Garlin introduced Guster over the cheers of the sold-out crowd, who then proceeded to play a 24-song set spanning nearly two hours.
Joining the founding trio of Adam Gardner (LA '95), Ryan Miller (LA '95) and Brian Rosenworcel (LA '95) was the newest Guster member Luke Reynolds, a violinist. The tour was promoted as the first entirely acoustic tour Guster has done, and with the exception of an electric bass, no electric instruments were used at all during the performance.
Much of the band's catalogue lends itself well to an acoustic treatment, and the group stretched the limits of the setting, from hushed whispers over a light guitar accompaniment to energetic takes on songs that generated enough noise to overcome the volume drop often associated with unplugged sets. The set list choices included some of the band's popular hits like "Satellite" (2007) and "Barrel of a Gun" (1999), as well as rarely played deep album cuts like "Rise and Shine" (2007), ensuring that the set covered nearly all of their albums.
This is the first time Guster has used a string section in their shows, and the string players greatly enhanced and fleshed out the songs that may have otherwise sounded slightly sparse in acoustic form. The strings' contributions were used to great effect during the concert, lending a lush background to certain songs while playing a prominent role in others, such as a frenzied violin solo in the song "Come Downstairs and Say Hello" (2003). One highlight of the show was the string treatment on "Satellite," which replaced the song's synthesizer riff with a beautiful violin melody.
Guster also capitalized on the evening's intimate setting by adding a request section to the middle of the concert with Garlin serving as emcee, allowing audience members to either place their song requests in a bowl prior to the show or use Twitter to submit their choices in real time. The band even went so far as to take requests from people shouting their choices down from the balcony, and this led to a total of seven request songs being played including crowd-pleasers "Eden" (1995) and "Architects & Engineers" (2010).
After the request portion, the band completed the remainder of their main set. They displayed an infectious enthusiasm and visible joy from playing that was reciprocated by the crowd's response to each song. Following the end of their main set, Guster came back for one encore song, a heartfelt rendition of The Band's "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" (1969) in memory of drummer Levon Helm, who died on April 20.
All you could hear when exiting the theater were audience members exclaiming how much they enjoyed the concert, a testament to the energy and enthusiasm Guster brought to the Paramount Theater. If this high-energy performance was any indication of what the group's concert this weekend will be like, Tufts students will be treated to a fantastic performance by a dynamic band at Spring Fling.
