Guster

Although Guster started playing underground shows during the early years of the band, they soon found themselves breaking into the musical mainstream playing to huge audiences that were dying to hear them live.
Guster is able to get rich atmospheric sounds live with crisp, pristine acoustic guitars shimmering over their ornate soundscape. The band’s main songwriters, Ryan Miller and Adam Gardner, have excellent dynamics on stage with Adam usually singing the chorus in a deeper vocal range and Ryan singing a harmony in a higher pitch to create a rich sound. Their vocal harmonies are also interesting because Ryan and Adam are often singing different lyrics when they are harmonizing. The band’s drummer, Brian Rosenworcel, also has a unique style of performance often playing with his bare hands and using different drums than a usual drum kit such as bongos. Brian’s drumming style was so unique and entrancing that his fans have labeled him as the “Thundergod”.
The band wants the environment of their performance to be very open and friendly so they do not enforce any restrictions on live taping and allow the audience to freely record their live performances if they want. The band also follows unique traditions during their live performances such as letting the drummer sing obscure cover songs for the encore. During their performance of “Airport Song” the audience has a tradition of throwing ping-pong balls onto the stage after the end of the song. Guster is also known for performing hilarious antics on stage as well as maintaining a close relationship with their audience. Guster is well loved by their fan base and have impressed numerous of respectable musicians that they have toured with such as Rufus Wainwright, Ben Folds, and Pete Yorn. You never know what to expect at a Guster performance. You could hear a cover of the Cheers theme song or you might see the band dancing with KFC buckets on their heads (all things which the band has done), but you can definitely expect to be in awe of their immense talents and their catchy music.

This was the second Mandolin Orange concert I have attended at 7th Street Entry in Minneapolis. Andrew and Emily are mesmerizing in their performance and have the ability to completely paralyze a crowd. I would recommend this duo to anyone and plan on seeing them at every opportunity.