The Spectrum

Issue date: 2/1/07 Section: A & E

Media Credit: The Spectrum/Kathleen Schultz O.A.R. performs on stage at Fairfield University's Alumni Hall.

It was 9 p.m. when the crowd was getting rowdy with impatience and pushing each other towards the front of the stage in wait for the headliner band to begin. Then the whole room erupted as the lights came up and O.A.R. opened jamming out with the song "Black Rock".

"I was really looking forward to this concert since I purchased my ticket in December. I couldn't wait for O.A.R. to jam out in a session and when they did it was above and beyond amazing," said Jess Honan, Brooklyn, N.Y.

Sacred Heart University students, Fairfield University students and other fans enjoyed a night of Gomez, an English indie rock band from Southport, England and the sounds of O.A.R. a jam band from Maryland. Gomez was the opening band that got the crowd going, while O.A.R. took the night away with hit after hit.

The concert was held at Fairfield University's Alumni Hall on Thursday, Jan. 25. This gymnasium setting gave each band great acoustics as they played.

O.A.R.'s college campus performance at Fairfield was part of their winter tour that is promoting their newest album "Stories of a Stranger". This album generates O.A.R.'s first big radio hit, "Love and Memories".

O.A.R.'s set list opened with "Black Rock", "About Mr. Brown", "Heard The World", "About An Hour Ago", "Conquering Fools", "Anyway", "Something Coming Over", "Here's To You", "Dareh Mevod", "Lay Down", "One Shot", and ended with "Hey Girl".

As they walked off stage, the crowd shouted O. A. R. repeatedly in request of an encore. The band came back and played "The Big Easy", continued with their biggest radio hit "Love and Memories" and finished with their all time biggest favorite "That Was A Crazy Game Of Poker". During the encore the crowd sang every word to their biggest hits.

Stephen Kellogg, a Fairfield alumni, was a guest performer who played one of his own songs as an added bonus to the show. Singer and lead guitarist, Marc Roberge of O.A.R. shared the stage with him singing along.

"O.A.R. is one of my all time favorite bands and I have seen them over 10 times," said Jim Daly, senior, Hazlet, N.J. "It was amazing to be at one of their first concerts on this winter tour promoting their latest album, I'm so pumped now for our spring concert because ours will be even bigger and better."

The crowd ended up getting a little out of control.

"This concert had a lot of pushing and out of control fans, hopefully our spring concert will be more organized with keeping the fans from being too crazy," said Tatiana Garcia, junior, Washington Heights, N.Y.

Sacred Heart University and Fairfield University have a partnership where they both sell 100 tickets to each other for their students at student prices for their spring concerts.

"This year our 100 tickets were sold out in a day and were only offered to one ticket per student because of the popularity of the concert," said Tom Wuestkamp, Student Activities Administrator.

Now that O.A.R. had their chance to rock out at Fairfield University, students are left to look forward to their own spring concert which is right around the corner.

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