by Dawn and Oliver St John

     On August 9th, the Green Highways tour rolled into town. Biodiesel-fueled vehicles carrying artists and gear for a wind-powered show featuring Rogue Wave, Ray LaMontagne and Guster. There's hardly a cloud in the sky, it's 82 degrees out, and it's the perfect feel for an outdoor show. Ryan Miller of Guster takes the stage briefly to introduce 'our friends Rogue Wave, and they're awesome'. If you haven't heard Rogue Wave before, they're well worth taking the time to check out. There seems to be a splash of Guster influence to their sound, but they are definitely carving out their own style. By the time Ray LaMontagne takes the stage, the High Falls festival site is loaded with people, and they're not all there for Guster; one attendee was overheard saying that he was a huge Ray LaMontagne fan but was also curious to hear what Guster sounded like. Perhaps I'm a touch biased, but I bet he got his curiosity well satisfied. LaMontagne's gravelly vocals, reminiscent of Joe Cocker, wash over an increasingly enthused crowd. By the time the single "Trouble" starts, he's won over a lot of Guster fans, and the cheers just keep getting louder.

     And then it's Guster time. We've seen Guster four times now, and they never fail to surprise and impress. The local radio ads for this show have been featuring the unmistakable riff from "Demons", and indeed this song, which features the biodiesel t-shirt sporting Adam Gardner, opens the set. Guster waste little time in following this up with another back-catalog favorite, "Center of Attention." "The Captain" is the first song from the new record to be played. It's a bouncing, high-energy track with three part harmony between Miller, Adam Gardner and Joe Pisapia, which shows off exactly the kind of thing that makes Guster the band they are.

     If you're a Guster fan, you undoubtedly have a few favorite songs, and in the almost-two-hours of their set, they appear to be trying to satisfy as many of those favorites as possible. While they play a full two-thirds of the new album Ganging Up On The Sun, they certainly don't skimp on the older material as well, dipping liberally into 1998's Goldfly, 1999's Lost And Gone Forever and 2003's Keep It Together.

     The unedited version of Ganging Up's first single "One Man Wrecking Machine" gets an airing, followed by "Manifest Destiny" also comes out, with Miller's intro explanation that "we say the word 'fuck' on the new record" - and he and the audience gleefully sing it as loudly as possible. Drummer Brian Rosenworcel then gets a chance to show us why he is nicknamed 'Thundergod' at the pounding conclusion of "Come Downstairs And Say Hello," a favorite of our editor, whose eyes flitted constantly back and forth between Ryan and Brian throughout the song. Also from the new album is "Satellite", performed on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" the very next night with the Boston Pops. Following this is perennial audience favorite 'Airport Song', during which the band are inevitably pelted with ping-pong balls. If the band actually keeps all the ping-pong balls that are thrown their way, there must by now be a palatial room somewhere back at Guster Central, filled to the ceiling with ping-pong balls.

     Next up is "Ruby Falls". A glorious full moon has risen over Rochester, providing the perfect touch to this magnificent tune. Guster's seven-minute epic has jaws dropping left and right. This song could go on for half an hour and nobody here would get sick of it - it's just that good. We had been waiting to hear "Ruby Falls" live since the first time we heard it on the CD. It's perhaps their most intense (and definitely longest) song, to date. We've played it for friends and watched their eyes light up, recognizing a veritable sonic masterpiece. The sound on the recording is superb enough, but the real thing exceeded the expectations we'd built up for it.

     It's not an easy act to follow, but the Guster boys round out their main set with high-energy number, "C'mon," and the 'classic' "I Spy". By the time the last song, "Fa Fa," is done, Miller has the entire crowd wrapped around his little finger. When he says the band will come out for an encore if the audience waves "jazz hands", several thousand hands gamely rise and shake. And true to his word, Miller soon leads the band back onto the stage. "Lightning Rod" warms the audience right back up, then two blistering rock numbers, "The New Underground" and "Barrel Of A Gun" all but shake the place down.

     "The New Underground" was another live favorite because of its intensity and total departure from anything one could have previously described as the Guster sound. Somehow, Miller makes it look easy, as if those screaming vocals which completely threw us both off guard the first time we heard it, come just as naturally as the sweet high-tenor crooning of the opening bars to "Ruby Falls". And yet there I stood for both, and for all 18 of the other songs the band performed.

     By 10:45, the guys are teasing the audience with a little light improv, our ears delighting in Joe's brilliance on the strings and synth, including a random techno-esque banjo and synth sound. As with every Guster show, nobody's quite sure what to expect. They've done three songs already, but they haven't left the stage. Miller picks up on this and ponders aloud whether the band should just go off on a meandering jazz odyssey for the next two hours. The crowd is lapping this up, and would be there all night if Guster wanted them to. But instead, the band suddenly launches into "Keep It Together," and the set is over but for a few more waves of jazz hands.

     They didn't play 'Empire State'. They didn't play 'What You Wish For'. They didn't play 'Dear Valentine'. It doesn't matter. They played a hell of a show, and it is only after the show that one notices the songs that weren't played, that one's legs begin to ache, that one even remembers they have a home to go to. That, to me, is the power of a Guster show. You leave your worries, your concern, even your fatigue at the door. For a couple of hours, their jokes and randomness and incredible music fill your consciousness, and anything that isn't up on that stage just doesn't seem to exist.

     Don't miss our pre-show interview with Adam Gardner!