Guster, an exuberant and fluid act with a career now spanning almost 25 years, returned home to Boston on Friday, January 15th, for a set of performances at the House of Blues.
With the day declared as “Guster Day,” fans gathered to celebrate with the band. With multiple shows at the HoB that weekend, vocalist Ryan Miller decided that it should be “Guster Week” instead. “Like shark week, but without the teeth,” he laughed as the band launched into a super groovy Talking Heads cover of “(Nothing but) Flowers.”
The four-piece band performed a two-hour long set for a full house, incorporating some of their biggest hits into the set list like “Satellite,” “One Man Wrecking Machine,” and “Diane.”
Guster played a show the previous night at the Upstate Concert Hall in New York. Before that, they hadn’t played since Thanksgiving. “Yesterday was our first show since, so we haven’t practiced these songs,” Miller remarked after making a quick comment to fellow band mate Adam Gardner. “They’re going to be terrible… Extra terrible.”
While the band laughed over a missed intro not even 30 seconds later, they were too damn good for a lack of practice to even matter.
The night carried an incredible vibe of excitement as fans chattered in between songs about which tracks they hoped the band would play next. Whether or not they played all the fan favorites, there was never a disappointing moment as each track played earned more applause and shouts of approval shot towards the stage.
The audience was even given the choice on what song they wanted to hear: either one of two songs off Guster’s freshman album, “Parachute,” or one from their sophomore album, “Goldfly.”The overwhelming amounts of applause let them know what the house wanted to hear. The band rushed right into “Rocket Ship” just moments later. But, no matter how loud they played, the audience sang along even louder, showing their appreciation.
After closing out the final notes of “Demons,” Miller thanked the crowd for their participation and promised to return to Boston. “I’ll see you all in… 30 to 45 seconds, probably.”
He laughed before hopping off stage with Gardner, and percussionist Brian Rosenworcel, leaving Luke Reynolds to lie on the stage, “rising like Lazarus” for their encore performances. Three tracks and a performance of “Fa Fa” (which seemed more like a euphoric jam session) later and Guster took their final bows before heading off stage.
These hometown heroes never fail to entertain, giving each fan the opportunity to forget about life, even for just a while.
With January 15th being declared “Guster Day,” fans gathered at the venue to celebrate with the band; but since they would be playing multiple shows at the HoB that weekend, vocalist Ryan Miller decided that it should be “Guster Week” instead. “Like shark week, but without the teeth,” he laughed as the band launched into a super groovy Talking Heads cover of “(Nothing But) Flowers.” The four-piece performed a two-hour long set for a full house, incorporating some of their biggest hits into the set list like “Satellite,” “One Man Wrecking Machine,” and “Diane.”
Guster played a show the previous night at the Upstate Concert Hall in New York, but before that they hadn’t played since Thanksgiving. “Yesterday was our first show since, so we haven’t practiced these songs,” Miller remarked after making a quick comment to fellow band mate Adam Gardner. “so they’re going to be terrible… Extra terrible. ” And while the band laughed over a missed intro not even 30 seconds later, they were too damn good for a lack of practice to even matter.
The night carried an incredible vibe of excitement as fans chattered in between songs about which tracks they hoped the band would play next. Whether or not a fan’s desired choice of song was actually performed or not, there was never a disappointing moment as each track played earned more applause and shouts of approval shot towards the stage.
The audience was even given the choice on what song they wanted to hear: either one of two songs off Guster’s freshman album, Parachute, or one off of their sophomore album, Goldfly. The overwhelming amounts of applause clued them in on what the house wanted to hear, and the band rushed right into “Rocketship” just moments later. But no matter how loud they played, the audience sang along even louder, showing their appreciation.
After closing out the final notes of “Demons,” Miller thanked the crowd for their participation and promised to return to Boston. “I’ll see you all in…. 30 to 45 seconds, probably.” He laughed before hopping off the stage with Gardner, and percussionist Brian Rosenworcel, leaving Luke Reynolds to lie on the stage, “rising like Lazarus” for their encore performances. Three tracks and a performance of “Fa Fa” (which seemed more like a euphoric jam session) later and Guster took their final bows before heading off stage.
These hometown heroes never fail to entertain, giving each fan the opportunity to forget about life outside of the concert hall for just a little while.