Guster gets booed in Cary

Most bands wouldn't play a show to a couple thousand adoring fans and end it by asking to be booed off stage. But that's just what Guster did last night at Koka Booth Amphitheatre in Cary.

"Are you guys feeling nice or sadistic," frontman Adam Miller asked the crowd before the last song of the set.

"Just boo like we really suck," he said. "We'll just turn that negative energy into something awesome."

And with that, the band launched into "Fa Fa."

While it was a great performance of the song, at the end there were no cheers. Only the sound of disapproval.

Miller and bandmates Brian Rosenworcel and Adam Gardner stood on the stage dumbfounded as fans yelled expletives and asked them not-so-nicely to get off the stage.

"That was the weirdest feeling of my life," Miller said. "It feels really dirty or something. ... I feel like I just looked at porn for 45 minutes."

Don't worry Ryan, speaking on behalf of the crowd, we felt a little dirty too.

But Guster's performance was anything but boo-worthy. The band kicked things off with "Barrel of a Gun" before rolling right through a 20-song set that spanned a decade of material.

Highlights of the evening were "Either Way," which Miller said they only perform once per tour, and "Airport Song," complete with vocal effects that made Miller sound like Vincent Price a la Michael Jackson's "Thriller." (Find a complete set list is below.)

All in all, it was definitely something worth cheering for.

It was Guster's first performance in the area (sans a show at Duke a few months back) in about three years. But Miller also noted that it was their biggest headlining show in the Carolinas to date. Guster also played the Koka Booth Amphitheatre in 2002, opening a sold out show for John Mayer.

Co-headliner Ray LaMontagne warmed up the crowd as he drove the ladies (and even some gents) into a screaming frenzy with his soulful, laid-back brand of music.

“This is panty-dropping music,” one crowd member mused out loud.

While there were no signs of explicit activities from the third row, LaMontagne’s music was just the thing to wind down the day — perfect for spreading a blanket on the amphitheater lawn and enjoying the late afternoon sunshine.

Guster set list:
Barrel of a Gun
The Captain
Diane
C'mon
Amsterdam
I Spy
Careful
Manifest Destiny
Airport Song
Either Way
Ruby Falls
New Underground
Keep it Together
Come Downstairs and Say Hello
Demons
Fa Fa
***************
One Man Wrecking Machine
Red Oyster Cult
Happier
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Hang On

[photo by Carrie Ochal]