Back to Main  |  Back to Reviews Page

Submitted to Guster.net by CD

08-24-2002
The Backyard, Austin, TX


Amongst thousands of 16 year old females and their boyfriends, there were several smatterings of rabid Guster fans... A great set of new stuff, old stuff and really old stuff left us wanting for more after only 60 minutes and maybe 13-15 songs.

We first saw Guster in 1996 on a campus tour in Fort Worth & have seen them roughly once a year since then. The big venue might have quelled Ryan's antics a bit, but the show was sharp, energetic and had the crowd going. The 16 year olds didn't know what had hit them.

The show started like many others this summer with "What You Wish For" and "Center of Attention" but snuck in the classics like "Mona Lisa" and Airport." It looks like the same three new songs were played, "Ramona," "Homecoming King" and another. Each song left us with the horrible fear it would be the last. The guys capped it off with "Barrel of a Gun" and "FaFa."

While I do like John Mayer's music, he came on and played an entirely canned show. He'd start one of his songs, break away into a cover, and then come back to finish his song. The cheesiness hit an all-time high when he picked up a camera from the audience and took a picture of himself during "3x5." He's got some definite talent on the guitar, which he showcases a couple of times with his usual Hendrix and Stevie Ray covers... My question... The guy was in Austin... he tries to talk about his heroes... won't mention SRV by name & doesn't play any more than 2 minutes of "Lenny." This guy has a lot to learn about live entertainment and needs to take some notes from Guster. Anyway, Mayer was exactly what you'd expect and nothing more.

We got to talk with Brian and Adam after the show and they said it was actually one of the best shows on the tour so far for them. At one point in the show, they quit singing to see how much of the audience was singing along... sounded kind of sad, frankly, but maybe it was louder up there. So, get your butt out there and be loud. If only these 15 year olds knew what last year's tour was like. In Dallas, people stood with their arms crossed and talked through John Mayer's set (with no band behind him)... then went absolutely nuts for 1 1/2 hours of Guster. For the love, bring that back!

Despite the review on here, they don't play Waco until Wednesday night, so get out there. Adam said they've only sold 900 tickets for a 6,000 seat venue... Great chance to make Guster feel like the Headliners they should be on this tour....