Guster @ 9:30 Club

One of my favorite bands, Guster, concludes their sold out two-night stand at the 9:30 Club this evening (10/30). They’re on their aptly-titled Lost & Gone Forever Ten Year Anniversary Tour celebrating the 10-year anniversary of their strong-from-start-to-finish Lost & Gone Forever album. Catchy songs with beautiful harmonies and percussive hand percussion – what more could you ask for? Anyway, two sets, no opening act, and they'll be playing Lost & Gone Forever in its entirety as the second set.

I caught last night’s show, and they definitely fleshed out the arrangements of the album nicely, incorporating a few guests (which I won’t reveal) into the festivities in true Guster fashion. Lead singer Ryan Miller got stronger as the night went on, with the perennial underrated “other voice” Ryan Gardner and Joe Pisapia providing lush harmonies and backing vocals, so essential to their sound.

I must say, it was great to see drummer Brian “Thundergod” Rosenworcel going old-school and taping up his hands to play a good deal of hand percussion. On recent albums he’s been playing a lot more conventional kit drum, but it just doesn’t pack the same energy as his hand percussion.

Their first setlist focused mainly on tracks from later albums (none, sadly, from Parachute), plus they threw in some first-listens of songs from their upcoming new album. I was pretty psyched to hear them play “X-Ray Eyes,” and they did a simply hypnotic version of “Come Downstairs & Say Hello.”

Yeah, the show’s sold out, but you most likely pick up a ticket off of Stubhub or from somebody out front of 9:30 Club.