christened its 2011 tour with a sold out performance on Friday. While the band teased some surprises on , they mostly stuck to a fan-pleasing sing-along set. They milked singles from three previous albums and sprinkled in a few tracks from their October release, “Easy Wonderful.” They kept the mood playful and the pace stayed pretty fast the entire show.
I’m a sucker for cheesy covers, and in that respect, Guster annihilated. After their second or third song they vamped for a couple of rounds of disco “Chariots of Fire.” Singer Ryan Miller laughed it off with a “Yeah, we just did that.” Their goofy sense of humor doesn’t come out in their banter nearly as much as it shows in their set extras. I especially liked when they went from “Red Oyster Cult” into Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song.” And of course I need to mention their amazing mash-up of the end of “Hang On” with Billy Joel’s “My Life.” There are plenty of YouTube videos of that action if you’re interested in checking it out.
The entire show was solid. Guster knows exactly what it takes to win over a crowd, and they executed wonderfully. Their long-time fans will greatly enjoy this tour, even though the set is geared more toward those of us that caught on around “Keep It Together.” But that didn’t seem important at this concert. To my surprise, the audience was in a great mood and bragging rights about who loved Guster the earliest seemed pleasantly absent. Guster is showing no signs of slowing down and their stop in Denver showed that that people are hungry for more.
I was kind of blown away with Guster’s choice for an opener, . I hadn’t heard them before, but gladly witnessed the three petite folksters hypnotize the Ogden. Their great harmonies and killer chops elicited loud cheers. If you’re so-so on GOW, you should do everything in your power to see them live before you make up your mind.
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Marc Hobelman makes websites at The Denver Post, , and is a regular contributor to Reverb.
David Gannon is a Denver photographer/web designer and contributor to Reverb. See more of his work .
