Last week, coffeehouse intellects and 30-something professionals rejoiced. America’s Little Engine that Could indie band, Guster, was reborn.
In the span of a week, Guster reawakened their Billboard Chart existence with the release of their first album in four years, the brilliant and catchy Easy Wonderful and three days later played an amazing show at the Newport Music Hall. The tour, only a few gigs in, serves as Guster’s righteous return to cult superstardom as they reclaim the CD101 airwaves.
Lead singer, Ryan Miller’s wit-filled stage banter let the adoring Columbus crowd know how much this show meant to them by saying, “Being here with you guys, this is the first time we have felt like a band since the tour started.”
Touting some tour beard scruff, Miller’s voice and playing was precise, yet playful. He astutely kept the energetic audience at bay by playing 2006’s smash hit, “Satellite” early in the extensive set that spanned their entire catalog.
Oldies but goodies, “Either Way,” “Come Downstairs and Say Hello,” and “Demons” were treats for hardcore Guster fans or those who formed from watching an episode of Grey’s Anatomy. The best song of the night was Easy Wonderful’s current single “Do You Love Me.” Guster played the song with such giddiness you might have think they’d just written the song backstage. It was contagious.
Permanent Guster fan favorite, “Amsterdam” shook the Newport walls as the night’s crescendo while much of the audience serenaded themselves by belting, “I’m gonna write you a letter. I’m gonna write you a book. I wanna see your reaction. I wanna see how it looks.”
If you missed Guster’s fantastic and fun October 8 performance, don’t worry. Buy Easy Wonderful and immediately insert it into your CD player because they sound as amazing in the studio as they do live.
This review was written by Josh Fitzwater and brought to you by the Franklin University Plaza at the LC Pavilion. For more information about shows that Josh and the Franklin crew will be attending and for chances to win tickets to concerts all year long, visit us on Facebook. Photography was provided by Matt Ellis at Three-Songs Photography.