The Blue Man Group's show at the Bryce Jordan Center last night was heavy on percussion, strobe lights and rock 'n' roll clichés.
In this case, that's not a bad thing.
Lampooning the genre, the performance ran the gamut of archetypal rock gimmicks from makeup to general stage presence to dance moves (including simple moves like head bobs and fist pumps and more complex maneuvers like putting one's leg behind his head). At the same time, the Blue Man Group parodied other rock shows and put on a great one, itself.
Somehow, unlike "Weird Al" Yankovic, the trio looked cool doing it.
And unlike too many rock shows I've been to in the past, this one actually rocked.
Though the show was comedic in nature -- from overt jokes about rockers' wearing makeup to subtle references to Van Halen's request of having a bowl of all-green M&M's in the band's dressing room at each venue -- the most compelling aspect of the performance was the music.
The Blue Man Group played a few quick covers here and there -- "Whip It," "Iron Man" and, yes, even "Free Bird" -- but the set primarily featured original music played by the three Blue Men and its backing band of varying size.
In addition to the bass, guitar, keys and tons of percussion provided by the backing band, the Blue Man Group added its own diverse instrumentation, including poles, PVC tubing and a piano resting on its side.
In typical rock 'n' roll fashion, the performance also included a lot of audience participation, going beyond the typical binary responses of "I like this" and "I don't like this" to include claps, dancing and a collective whipping out of cell phones (in lieu of lighters), which made the crowd appear to be a swarm of swaying fireflies.
A few lucky audience members were even brought on stage, and the Blue Man Group made sure to shower parts of the crowd with souvenirs like drumsticks, guitar picks and, yes, Courvoisier.
Again, though, the epic music behind the performance was the most attractive part of the show.
The Blue Man Group has a distinctive sound, mostly due to the use of PVC tubes as percussion, and its even kind of gimmicky sometimes, but it's certainly strong enough to stand on its own.
Whether using those PVC tubes to cover Devo or Van Halen or even to play original compositions, the music was absolutely driving.
Credit must be given, also, to the backing band. Though some of the musicians were targets of jokes throughout the show, they all held their own even during the requisite encore (how can you roll through rock clichés without an encore?) during which they played a cover of the Who's "Baba O'Riley."
Of course, it wouldn't have been a rock show without an opener to warm up the crowd. DJ Mike Relm got the show going, scratching through the pantheon of popular music of the last few decades.
From classic icons like Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin to more contemporary acts like the Beastie Boys and Björk, Relm rolled through a half century of rock to portend the rest of the show that would follow him.
Across the board, the show rocked, which is more than I can say about most concerts I've seen at the Bryce Jordan Center in the past. Though the Blue Man Group is probably more accurately defined as comedy or performance art, the quality of its music alone is enough to put other bands to shame.
