The "sky" was black against the strings of white lights flickering rhythmically in contrast around the "moon" painted on the Black Crowes' illuminated backdrop Wednesday night at The Bryce Jordan Center.

Evenly sandwiched between the vacillating lights of the stars and the spontaneous flash of red and yellow paper lanterns, the Crowes' themselves gleamed with a soulful radiance unparalleled by any other of today's rock bands.

Chris Robinson shook his skinny, pajama-clothed butt all over the stage in a mesmerizing exhibit of showmanship.

Brother Rich jammed out on the guitar while Steve Gorman kept it real on the drums and Eddie Harsch pounded out sweet melodies on the keys.

The energetic back-up singers danced the night away and the crowd followed suit. No one remained seated as the band's sweet harmonies swept over the swaying, rocking mass of the audience.

"They rocked, they're awesome. They made me dance," Ankit Patel (senior-operations information systems management & international business) said. "I like the Black Crowes a lot. I think they played real well, they sounded real cool."

"They made me dance like I had ants in my pants," Matthew Proffitt (senior-geography) said.

The Crowes performed the songs the crowd was thirsty for, including "Thorn in My Pride," and "Remedy," as well as some material from their new album, appropriately titled Lions.

"(This one's about) something you can't do on the World Wide Web, on the Internet, it's about getting out and seeing people and things like that," Robinson said as he introduced the group's well-received "Soul Singing."

When the band wrapped up, Penn Staters cheered until Chris Robinson returned to the stage, this time donning a flowing pink scarf, and the band delivered an encore performance of "She Talks to Angels," sending the crowd into an uproarious joy.

The opening band, California's own Beachwood Sparks, primed the audience with a spaced-out country sound. The hippie-charged melodies made an impression on those unfamiliar with the band.

"I thought they were really good, they were different than I expected, kind of a mix of Beach boys' sound and, like, blues and country," Allison Clinger (freshman- information sciences and technology) said.

The band members had a few words to say about their Penn State experience.

"We were scared that we were gonna get hazed," said singer-guitarist Chris Gunst, while lying on the floor of the bands' dressing room.

"I was looking forward to it," keyboard player Dave Scher said.

All jokes aside, the group arrived in University Park with open minds.

"We had no conceptions coming in," bassist Brent Rademaker said.

As far as playing colleges in general, though, the group knows the routine.

"We know that most of them don't give you liquor," Scher said.

"We definitely thought about that coming in," Gunst said.

Beachwood Sparks' eclectic sound has earned the band a variety of descriptions, most of which the group seems satisfied with. Just don't call these guys "alterna-country."

"I like being called country," Rademaker said.

"It's more the (alterna-country) label that we don't appreciate," Gunst said.

The Sparks' new album, Once We Were Trees, will be out in stores in the coming months.

The show as a whole was an exciting collection of twists and turns.

A glance back at the rows of concert-goers yielded a picture of hundreds of music lovers, moving their feet, bobbing their heads, absorbed by the sound of true rock 'n' roll.