Guster fills the Space at Westbury

GUSTER

June 15^th, 2016

The Space at Westbury

by Angelo Santoro

Greeted by an overwhelming & excited crowd after what’s been a long 4-year absence from the local area, Guster took their place on stage at The Space in Westbury. Over the past few years, the band from Boston has made trips to nearby Brooklyn and Manhattan, but many were simply cheering the fact that they have returned to Long Island. As usual, Guster enthusiasts were treated to a fun packed night of some truly great music and their equally abundant ease, confidence and sense of humor.

The crowd easily kept up with every one of the 20+ songs that have spanned their career. They even remembered the customary Ping-Pong balls thrown at the band during the popular “Airport Song”. There was never any doubt by Guster that these fans are loyal. Seen best during the performance of “Simple Machine”, when for part of the song, Ryan Miller’s vocals were supported only by the clapping hands of literally every fan in the bursting venue.

One of the many special qualities Guster possesses is their incredible musical versatility. All of the band members are constantly changing positions, with all playing different instruments on stage throughout a performance.  From song to song, if Ryan is playing bass on one number- then he is playing piano on the next. Luke Reynolds shifts from piano to bass, and Adam Gardner on lead guitar then moves to keyboards & onto trumpet. When was the last time you saw a drummer stand up and pull out a trombone as Brian Rosenworcel did in the midst of “Never Coming Down”? It was a sight to behold!

The night was filled with some great highlights, but the one that really stood out was “Come Downstairs and Say Hello”, with once again Brian Rosenworcel and his thundering display on the hand drums (which is made up of a combination of bongos, congas, djembe, hand snares and cymbals). As he increased his tempo on the bongos, and he continued to smack the medal cymbals with his bare hand, filling the large space of the venue with this sound of the drums really would have created some bloody hands for me, but he kept at it with musical determination and some memorable facial expressions.
 Performances like this make Guster’s music and Rosenworcel’s technique undeniably distinctive.

The night came to an end with “Happier”—off of their third album—Lost and Gone Forever, perfectly fitting, for its how they most certainly left all of Westbury feeling!

 

Photos from the show:

Set List June 15^th at the Space in Westbury

1. Long Night
2. Careful
3. Manifest Destiny
4. Expectation
5. Architects & Engineers
6. Homecoming King
7. Chariots of Fire (Vangelis cover)
8. Come Downstairs and Say Hello
9. Do You Love Me
10. Never Coming Down
11. I Spy
12. Satellite
13. Simple Machine
14. Airport Song
15. Ramona
16. Gangway
17. Barrel of a Gun
18. One Man Wrecking Machine
19. This Could All Be Yours

Encore

20. Mona Lisa
21. Doin’ It By Myself
22. Happier