Submitted to Guster.net by Josh Crabb
04-13-2003
The Pageant, St. Louis, MO
I travelled over 450 miles from Wisconsin to see this show, and it was worth about every mile! The opening band, Wheat, was very mediocre. Their soung were a very cookbook blend of songs that sounded somewhat between Our Lady Peace and Third Eye Blind, but their closing song was actually quite good. Well, I'm sure most of us came to see Guster!
Guster's set was completely rockin'! They opened up the show with "Happier" which was a mega cool beginning to a mega cool show. They then busted into "Two Points for Honesty" after a "Beunos Noches" to the loving fans. They played many new songs, including "Ramona", which I would imagine would end up being their first single...not quite sure about that, but I am almost positive. They mixed the new songs in well with the old, even including the title track off the album, "Keep it Together", which was an excellent song and incredibly catchy, which made me giddy with anticipation for the new album. Also, to keep things fresh for the audience, they played a cover of Ben Folds song "Not the Same", which was excellently executed by Ryan on Bass/Vocals and Adam on the keyboard, being all Folds like! Not only did they do that, but they burst into a funny little jam off the of the bass line for "Another One Bites the Dust", which was hilarious and quite entertaining all in one...what more could you ask for?!
They ended the show with their "Last-Song Song" and played "Fa Fa" to end it. Of course we all went nuts, and they came back out for an encore starting with "Either Way", followed by a new song, and then closed it with "Demons". The roadies threw out some Special Darks that Ryan talked about during the show and I got one...but I didn't eat it of course cuz I hate Special Darks...sure could have gone for a Krackel.
This was a great show...lots of songs, not a boring moment, and usual hilarious Guster banter. They played three of the five songs I wanted to hear, which was cool, but I really wanted to hear "Rocketship" and "Window". Ryan even had a harmonica to play the beginning for "Window"! I was very surprised he only used the harp once in the show! The show was also very solid, and they didn't make any noticeable mistakes, but even if they did it wouldn't matter since it's freakin' Guster man!
This is the best show I have seen this year, and definetly sets the bar for the summer leg of shows and the eventual triumphant return of Guster to touring after the release of "Keep it Together" in June! If you haven't seen Guster yet, you have missed out and I urge you to go see them IMMEDIATELY, to further them and yourself.
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