Guster to play spring concert

Author: Melissa Marshall

Guster will headline the Middlebury College Activity Board's (MCAB) spring concert on April 27 after an opening by up-and-coming indie band The Format, according to MCAB officers. The Spring Concert will be a part of Guster's Campus Consciousness Tour, a project sprouting from the environmental non-profit Reverb, founded by Guster guitarist Adam Gardner and his wife Lauren Sullivan.

The selection of Guster, a popular New England alternative rock trio, represented a safe choice by MCAB to please a broad range of student tastes, and inclusion in the Campus Consciousness tour offered a nod to Middlebury's green leanings. The environmentally friendly Campus Consciousness tour travels via bio-diesel tour buses, uses rechargeable batteries for instruments, recycles and offsets concerts by purchasing wind power.

Guster, a major force in the alt-rock scene during the nineties with such successful albums as Goldfly and Lost and Gone Forever, has survived today's internet-savvy culture where bands achieve overnight stardom and fade just as quickly.

"Guster is the kind of band that has staying power," said Sam Jesse '07, MCAB Concert Chair, who noted the band had played at Middlebury five years ago and was due for a return. "We had a lot of success with Jurrasic 5 and Wyclef Jean, but we thought it was time to have more of a rock band. When we were presented with the idea of Guster, we jumped on it, especially since they're touring in promotion of a new album."

Reisa Bloch '09 agreed, "Having Guster for Spring Concert will be a nice change from the rappers that have performed over the last few years."

The band's latest album, Ganging Up on the Sun, was received with relative critical acclaim and labeled one of their catchiest and most melodic endeavors when it came out last June. A July 2006 issue of Spin Magazine applauded the release, assuring fans that, "the band's pop instincts are craftier than ever. These songs might even reach past the keg party."

The Format, an Arizona based band who turned heads with their sophomore release, Dog Problems, is sure to appeal to the more muscially elite members on campus. However, with their catchy beats, infectious sound, and discernible hooks, The Format deftly avoid the pitfalls that seem to make other hipster-approved bands unapproachable.

"Our goal is to serve the widest audience," said Jesse. "Other organizations such as WRMC can push the envelope when it comes to their programming, it doesn't work as well with us."

Guster's notoriety as a classic collegiate combo, however, was not the only influencing factor of MCAB's decision. The organization worked to make a selection that would meet MiddKid demands. Before making their final decision, MCAB sent out surveys to gauge the musical preferences of the Middlebury Campus. And along with input from a college booking agent, MCAB consulted the bountiful well of personal information available on students' Facebook profiles.

"It's a long, frustrating process of trying to satisfy the largest audience possible and getting the most bang for the buck," said Jesse. "We even looked around on Facebook, and Guster had 190 people who listed them as their favorite band, while Led Zeppelin had only about 70."

The innocous, acoustically-driven troupe, along with the fellow New England favorite, Dispatch, are also the inspiration for a Facebook group aptly named, "I Love Guster and Dispatch." But only fourteen members subscribe to such a high level of devotion.

Before performing at Middlebury, the trio from Tufts University will play major shows at the Beacon Theatre in New York and The Opera House in Boston.