Although their audience was practically non-existent, the band members of The Limit gave their all last Thursday night at The Stein, adapting their repertoire into "a little something just for Brandeis."The Limit is made up of three musicians from New Haven, Conn.: Mark Daniel, guitarist and lead singer; his brother Bob, drummer; and their high school friend Todd Grosberg on bass. The fact that the two brothers are in the band doesn't cause a lot of trouble. "Nothing a couple of beers won't fix," explained Mark.

"We're all basically brothers," Mark said, indicating that they get along well. "Not like Oasis: They don't like each other."

The Limit describes its music as "straight-ahead rock," and that's exactly what the set was, comprising of both original songs and covers of Neil Young and Jimi Hendrix hits.

Unfortunately, The Limit, which is used to playing to several-thousand-person venues like Hard Rock Live at Foxwoods Resort and Casino, and The Avalon Ballroom in Boston, requires a kind of crowd interaction that it just didn't receive from The Stein's miniscule crowd. When they asked how their listeners were doing, they should have gotten a reply from hundreds of cheering people. Instead, they got "we're fine" from three students.

Due to this atypical change in scenery, The Limit claimed that they would use this performance to try some new things and alter their usual repertoire a little bit. As Mark said to his listeners, "I'm feeling really good, just having fun."

Nevertheless, the band's concept of a mellow show seemed to be vastly different from the audience's. The Daniel brothers and Grosberg played as if they were still performing to a massive crowd, sweating heavily and twisting their reddened faces as they played with their customary loudness. The waitstaff, who accounted for most of the small audience, complained about the noise, as an audience member covered his ears with his hands every now and then, frowning with pain.

Although Mark commented on "the nice energy" from the audience at one point, no one seemed to agree with him on that. The music was good and the band played well, but the atmosphere just wasn't right. Smaller venues like The Stein simply don't match The Limit's style.

Hopefully, The Limit will experience more success in the future as they try for larger venues and festivals. Until now, the furthest away from home the band has performed is California, but currently, they're planning to perform at a musical festival in Shanghai come October. With any luck, this upcoming concert may help them with their goal of breaking through in the European and Asian markets. When they come back from China they will keep on touring the East Coast, ending the year in California yet again.

"We never really stop," said Mark in reference to their busy schedule.

Currently, The Limit's debut self-titled album can be purchased nationwide, and their second release should be available in stores early 2007.