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Reviews From 04-25-2001
Submitted to Guster.net by Courtney

04-25-2001
Duke University--Page Auditorium, Durham, NC


It was supposed to be an outdoor concert, but the weather was pretty nasty. So it was moved indoors, which was really a blessing for me, because we had chairs and were able to sit until the gusters came on. A band of Duke students opened up the show, I think they were called Entropy, but don't quote me. I missed their performance. So next came on Joe, Marc's Brother, whose performance I did catch, and they were great. It was unfortunate that there were only like 20 people watching, but also fortunate because we could sit in the second row. Next came RUN DMC, and the crowd got a little rowdy for them. "Everybody give me a 'Hell Yeah'".
The security made a big deal about everyone sitting in a seat. This was fine with me, noone could block my view. And then, as soon as Guster came on stage, everyone left their seats to stand up close. I snagged front row. This was the closest I'd ever been able to swing, and it was the most authentic venue I'd seen them in (meaning a real stage and all that fun stuff). The lights were awesome, my props go to Pasty. Here's the setlist:
What You Wish For
Great Escape
I Spy-->> Numbers
Airport Song
Happier
Pixies cover- Here Comes Your Man
Demons
Barrel of a Gun
Bury Me
New Untitled Song
Either Way
Happy Frappy, Muzak version
FaFa
*Encore*
Mona Lisa
Center of Attention
cover- Happy Together

The crowd was pretty into the band, and I was surprised at how many people could sing along to the songs, even those not on L&GF. My friend and I were the only ones, however to throw ping pong balls and yell out the dirties and the jackals. My bubbles were stuck in my former seat, I forgot to grab them in my rush to get to the stage.

As for Ryan's little stories that he always tells, he goes:
It was Duke's last day of classes (lucky bastards) and so Ryan talked about how the time after the end of classes is "magic". He said there are 2 magic months every year, so each student will have 8 magic months total (unless they're on the 5 year plan like me, in which case it's 10). The magic month is a time of alcohol and sex. The spring semester has the graduating seniors, and they have extra sexual tensions to release. The crowd loved this!
Later it so happened that Ryan talked to ME from stage! He even sang a song about me, extra bonus!
During Bury Me, Ryan tried to pull a Run DMC and said to Adam and Brian, "Hit me 3 times". They didn't expect it and didn't pull it off quite right. They tried again and again and got it down. They then tried "Hit me 7 times" and "Hit me 13 times". The audience counted along. Good times.
Joe, Marc's Brother joined the boys on stage for Happy Together. Ryan invited Run DMC to come on too, but for some reason they didn't come.

After the show my friends and I hung around to talk to the band, and I realized why Guster is so awesome: They are just so REAL. I could talk to them like they were just regular people, not the best band ever. Brian even thanked us for sticking with Guster. Like we were going anywhere!