[ATTENDED: January 24, 2025] Guster
Back in March, we saw the We All Have Eras Tour and we loved it. It seemed weird to get tickets to the same show a few months later when they announced the second wave of the tour. But it was almost a year later!
This made my 12th time seeing Guster and every Guster show is a good time. Although the last time we saw Guster at the Fillmore, we didn’t love the crowd so much (we were also close to the bar…boo). But this time we landed squarely in the middle of the floor and had a great view (for the most part) and the crowd around us was cool (for the most part).
The show was like last time, a that there would be a narrator telling us what was going on with the band. Dave Butler (who also plays drums with Marco Benevento and has played live with Guster since 2015) was the evening’s narrator. [This also means I’ve seen Dave Butler play 13 times].
The sets and “Acts” were the same, possibly a little smoother and, as they said on Instagram–there were laughs in different spots.
They opened the show with a chalk board showing a dorm room at Tufts. Ryan and Adam met at Tufts. They each played in bands in high school (Adam from outside of Morristown, NJ!). (Ryan’s band was called The Silents, Adam’s was Royal Flush). They didn’t have bands in common, so they wrote their own song: “Parachute.” Then they needed a name. How about Gus? Sounds good. They were all set to be the Indigo Boys, two guys with great harmonies and acoustic guitars. Then a goofy guy, Brian, who carried bongos showed up (his early band was called Toejamb) and soon they were a trio busking in Harvard Square.
Then came two songs that were different from last time [Happy Frappy instead of Fall in Two and X-Ray Eyes (the first time we’ve seen them play it) instead of Demons]. Although I was happy to hear songs for the first time, this was also something of a greatest hist show, so of course it was great to hear Airport Song and Barrel of a Gun (again).
Their story is more interesting than just a band progressing. They went from acoustic guitars and bongos to a full on band with drumsticks and bass. They were approached by Steve Lillywhite to produce an album.
Then Luke Reynolds came out with a giant head of Joe Pisapia and a name tag that said JOE. He was a multitalented multi-instrumentalist and wrote “Jesus on the Radio” (which Luke and Ryan sang together). Then Joe joined the band for real (played by Luke). (more…)
I Just Read About That... 