Guster ~ November 6, 2009 ~ Main St. Armory ~ Rochester, NY

Words and Photos by Joe Koch

The Boston-based band Guster is on tour, celebrating 10 years of being together. If you’re a casual music fan, there’s a good chance you’ve never heard of them. Or maybe you have?

Do you ever find yourself liking a song on the radio, but never find out who it is? Guster is one of those bands. With a career that spans a decade, they have had a decent amount of radio play. Their avid fans follow them from city to city; they sell out shows everywhere.

On Nov. 6, Guster played at the Main Street Armory in Rochester, N.Y., as singer and guitarist Ryan Miller greeted the crowd with “Welcome, this is the first time that we’ve opened and closed the show.”

Early in the set they played “One Man Wrecking Machine,” a song that I just heard on the radio driving home from work. This is an example of how you can hear a catchy song on the radio, but have to wait for the DJ to name the artist. Sometimes you miss it. I know when I hear a Guster song, I like it, but I’m not deep into their repertoire of songs.

Ryan gave the crowd a synopsis of how the night was going to play out. The first set would consist of selections from their albums Ganging Up On The Sun, Keep It Together and Goldfly. Then they would take a short break and return to perform Lost and Gone Forever in its entirety from beginning to end.

Some highlights from the first set was when Guster teased the audience with a rendition of Blue Oyster Cult’s “Don’t Fear the Reaper,” which segued into a new song that I believe was titled “This Could All Be Yours.” Ryan embarrassingly apologized for messing up the lyrics in the song “X Ray.”

The pop-piano driven “Manifest Destiny” kept the people bouncing right into “Home Coming King,” which got everyone singing along. Ryan strummed the first couple chords of “Satellite,” igniting the crowd with screams of approval. The last song was “Come Downstairs and Say Hello.” Ryan’s vocals sounded mystically uplifting, layered with the driving combination of drums and percussions. I felt like I was at “The Lion King.”

After a 15-minute break, the band returned to perform Lost and Gone Forever, which they executed flawlessly. They ended the night with all four members coming out to the front of the stage and playing “Jesus on the Radio,” acoustic and unplugged. Literally, they unplugged their guitars and didn’t use microphones. It was like you went from screaming in an arena to sitting around a campfire. This was the perfect way to end the show and it was by far the most powerful song of the night.

For more info go to: http://www.guster.com/