Since the release last year of Stories of a Stranger O.A.R. have transformed from a niche jam-band to an act with a national following. Their path to success went straight through the Brandeis campus last Wednesday when the well-known live act dropped by to play a two-hour set of songs spanning their entire ten-year career. The group, which has its origins in a Ohio State University fraternity, is made up of bassist Benj Gershman, drummer Chris Culos, saxophonist and guitarist Jerry DePizzo, lead guitarist Richard On and lead singer and guitarist Marc Roberge. The Brandeis concert was the first of the group's current tour, which is sponsored by Sony and Major League Baseball to promote the recently released PlayStation game MLB 06: The Show.
Students began filling the Shapiro gymnasium as soon as the doors opened at 7 p.m. and were greeted by the band's intricate stage set up which featured an enormous video screen and an elaborate lighting rig. The rear of the venue had been transformed into a video arcade of sorts: Sony provided plasma screens and PlayStation 2 systems for the crowd to test the new game. With all these distractions to entertain the crowd, it was easy to forget that one was there to see a concert.
The band, taking the stage shortly after 9, wasted little time electrifying the room with their unique brand of reggae-driven roots rock which, since the band's inception in 1996, has become a mainstay on college campuses across the country. The group, joined onstage by keyboardist and percussionist Michael Paris, opened their set with "52-50," a screaming ballad off Stories of a Stranger which describes a soldier's thoughts of returning home. The track is one of only a few reggae-based songs on the record, as the group has recently begun to move toward a more straight-rock songwriting style like that of "Right on Time," from their 2003 release In Between Now and Then. Also mixed into the two-hour set were longtime fan favorites "City on Down," "Hey Girl" and "Crazy Game of Poker," each of which had the crowd dancing and singing along to nearly every word.
As usual, the band members were dressed modestly in jeans and t-shirts. At heart O.A.R. may be five "average Joe's," but their collective and individual talents are anything but average. Culos, the drummer, never faltered in laying down simple yet flawlessly orchestrated grooves for Roberge and the rest to accompany. O.A.R. were at their best during a Latin percussion-inspired jam session midway through "Lay Down."
Culos and Paris, who briefly abandoned his organ for a set of timbales, traded drum licks while Roberge chanted "I never seen a body move the way you do / Rocking steady and you know it too / You had to come down from heaven above and tease the world."
Opening for O.A.R. on their spring tour was the acoustic hip-hop trio Scratch Track, who were met with mixed reactions by the audience Wednesday night. The percussive group took the stage as the crowd was still filling the Shapiro gym last week and quickly jumped into a mix of bluesy acoustic guitar riffs and thumping beats. The threesome's set was highlighted by a hip-hop medley before two of the group's members left the stage leaving only guitarist Jason Hamlin to display his unique and unorthodox style of playing.
Longtime fans of O.A.R. were given a special treat following the group's main set. Roberge returned to the stage to perform an unaccompanied acoustic version of "Short a Try" in what has become his trademark raspy growl, which has often been compared to the likes of such established acts as Dave Matthews Band (with whom O.A.R. will again tour this summer).
Once the other four members rejoined the singer on stage, the group ended the night with a dynamic version of their current radio hit, "Love and Memories." Surrounded by the flashing lights and dazzling designs that were being projected around the room, Roberge and company treated the Brandeis audience to 120 minutes of exhilarating, vibrant music, and by the time the six men left the crowded stage the audience's admiration was unmistakable.