Concertgoers at the HUB-Robeson Center got a lot of bang for their buck when two impressive rock bands played a free show Thursday night.
Though Fastball has been typecast as a " '90s band" and "one-hit wonder," the Texas group proved it has a deep catalog of strong material beyond "The Way" and "Out of My Head." Nine Days, which opened the show with an acoustic set, also reached into its past albums for a half-hour set.
Both bands acknowledged the crowd's desire for the hits, but packed the show with plenty of other tunes that could hold their own with the mega-popular ones. Plenty of loyal Fastball fans with knowledge of the band's albums were in attendance.
"Fastball was a big name in the 1990s," Alan McBride (sophomore-telecommunications) said. "I think their music really speaks to the fans."
McBride added the group's strengths extend far beyond its radio hits.
"I'm just a big fan of rock 'n' roll music," McBride said.
For Fastball fans, the fact that the show was free made picking up tickets a no-brainer.
"I was so excited when I heard Fastball was coming," Jessica Salter (sophomore-forest services) said. "Especially because it was a free show."
The show opened when two-fifths of Nine Days, singer-guitarists John Hampson and Brian Desveaux, took the stage at about 8:30 p.m. and played selections from the band's entire career.
"This song is a homage -- not a fromage, but a homage -- to a hero," Hampson said to introduce the group's song "Bob Dylan."
The band played several other tuneful numbers over the course of the set, including "A Girl in California," which featured a ringing acoustic guitar intro that evoked Led Zeppelin's "Going to California."
The Zeppelin-referencing continued when Hampson opened a song by announcing he'd written it in 1971 and then began playing the opening guitar figure of "Stairway to Heaven." However, after the slight tease, the two guitarists leapt into Nine Days' big hit, "Absolutely (Story of a Girl)," and closed the set with "Things We Said."
Soon after, the four members of Fastball appeared. Lead singer Tony Scalzo, doing his best post-breakdown Joaquin Phoenix impression with a scruffy beard and dark Ray-Ban Wayfarers, sang with a slight Texas drawl. Singer-guitarist Miles Zuniga was relatively clean-cut by comparison. The band opened with the stirring "Falling Upstairs," and the energy didn't flag for the entire set. Fastball played several songs from its new album, Little White Lies, which will be released in April. Some other concert highlights were "Fire Escape," "Little White Lies" and "You're an Ocean."
When it was finally time for "The Way," the crowd was happy to sing along. The other hit, "Out of My Head," opened the encore, and the band closed with a crowd request "Slow Drag" and "'Til I Get It Right."
The group's mix of hits and other energetic material left Fastball fans pleased.
"I liked the show a lot," AmandaSue Gubich (sophomore-kinesiology) said. "They did a lot of their popular songs."
